Clyburn Park
We have gone to quite a few performances of late and almost back-to-back. But sometimes a performance touches a raw nerve and you keep pondering more and more of its meanings and intentions. Such is the case with the play “Clyburn Park” by Bruce Norris.
I think of it as a sequel, if you will, to “A Raisin in the Sun (ARITS)” by Lorraine Hansberry. In actuality it is a starting point for examining attitudes and “truths” we hold dear. The connecting character in Clyburn Park is the grand-niece of Lena, the matriarch who originally purchased the new home.
The play forces, yes forces, you to re-examine your race consciousness, your neighbors and neighborhood, and the labels we use when we are uncomfortable with differences.
Act I focuses on our past while Act II examines the reality of our present. The writing/performance presents topics that can make you titter from being uncomfortable with a line. It can make you cringe because you come face to face with biases that you thought were resolved. You can gasp when the dialogue becomes a stinging prick below the surface of your beliefs. Those beliefs do not look good on the stage for review.
We do not know what happened to the Youngers from “ARITS” but we can see the impact that the purchase of a home for a better life for the family had on the characters in this play 50 years later.
I do not know if it will come to your area but know that I strongly recommend it for your theatre outing. It entertains(?) and awakens a deeper meaning to life.
- Posted in: Theatre Anyone?
