Theatre
November 11, 2014Exhibits
November 11, 2014
LePetit Theatre de Terrebonne takes on the heady subject of race in its latest offering, the Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony Award-winning play “Clybourne Park.”
Edwina Yakupzack directs the Bruce Norris production, which he wrote in response to Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun.”
The first act is set in 1959, moments after a black family moves into a white Chicago neighborhood. Act 2 revisits the same home 50 years later in 2009, only to find the roles reversed as a white couple seeks to move into the now-gentrifying black enclave.
“It’s not that uncommon of a story,” Yakupzack said of the segregation plot. “I mean I can still remember when the French Quarter (in New Orleans) was once considered a slum. Back then, too, the Hummingbird Hotel was a bit of a flophouse. The bums had all taken over.
“Today, all that’s changed,” she added. “Now, it’s prime property.”
Norris’s script artfully peels away the socially political layers that separate the show’s cast to reveal how ridiculous the paradigms that shape racial discrimination really are. And audiences are treated to many laughs in the process.
LePetit’s cast includes Mike Brossette, Liz Folse, Robyn Hornsby, Joel Waldron, Derra Howard, Shane Fos and Terrance Bonvillain.
“I really wanted to direct this show,” Yakupzack said. “I was fascinated by the premise of two views in a 50-year gap. The script is very tit for tat, too.”
Norris’s writing often has the seven-person cast simultaneously weighing in on virtually any topic under the sun. The ongoing, open “train of thought” dialogue reveals how differently life’s experiences shape us.
“It’s been the dickens to learn with every fourth or fifth line being a bunch of cross talk,” the director chimed.
“It really is a good play,” Waldron said, noting that it challenges society then and now.
For Bonvillain, playing two characters – each at an extreme philosophically – drew him to the role. “The issues with race will likely always be there,” he explained. “This show puts it out there and lets the audience think about it.”
Fear of change is at the core of the play’s theme, Yakupzack said.
“Blacks, Jews, Caucasians. Whatever the race, that’s what it really comes down to, being scared of change,” she said.
“It’s a heady topic for LePetit audiences,” Hornsby said of the feisty, funny production. “It allows the audience to look at the dynamics of race in a thought-provoking way.”
But “Clybourne Park” is not intended to be a lightening rod. There’s mystery and intrigue at stake here, too.
It turns out 406 Clybourne St. has its share of secrets, including a suicide and a buried trunk that is unearthed.
Act One opens shortly after Bev and Russ have sold their home to the “Raisin in the Sun” Youngers family. The couple is just days away from leaving their longtime home. Karl (the lone “Raisin” carryover in the show) and his wife Betsy are determined to stop the sale.
When a visiting preacher brings Bev’s maid Francine and her husband Albert, both of whom are black, into the conversation things turn uncomfortable, enlightening and comical.
Return 50 years later, and 406 Clyboune St.’s days are numbered. The house is about to be leveled, if not for the efforts of a young professional couple. This time it is a middle-class black couple that objects to the newcomers.
“It’s a funny, relevant show,” Yakupzack said. “I believe Houma audiences are ready for this.”
“Clybourne Park” cast Mike Brossette, Joel Waldron, Liz Folse, Robyn Hornsby, Shane Fos, Terrance Bonvillain and Derra Howard read through lines in anticipation of LePetit Theatre de Terrebonne’s Nov. 14-23 run. The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning show picks up where “Raisin in the Sun” left off.
