‘Clybourne Park’ surveys how racial attitudes have changed (or not)

Bruce Norris' biting new off-Broadway comedy draws blood from bad behavior

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

Clybourne Park is the fictitious Chicago neighborhood where the striving Younger family relocates at the conclusion of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun."

Some readers may recall a scene late in the 1950s drama when a white guy from the Clybourne Park neighborhood association unsuccessfully offers to buy the property back from the Youngers, blandly mouthing the platitude that "Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities."

Inventively riffing off this point, Bruce Norris has composed "Clybourne Park," which opened Sunday in its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons.

Set in the same house at 406 Clybourne Street in 1959 and then in 2009, each sequence populated by completely different characters, the prickly comedy considers racism and gentrification mostly from the perspective of supposedly nice white people who don't give a damn about anybody but themselves.

The 1959 chapter involves the middle-aged white couple who sell their pleasant little house to what will be the first black family in the area. As packing continues, the neighbors increasingly voice their upset and prejudices. Eventually we hear details of a hinted-at tragedy precipitating the couple's departure.

In 2009, a couple of white yuppies have bought the now-shabby house in the predominantly black enclave and plan to demolish it for a McMansion. Representing the community association, a young black couple meets with the newcomers to discuss their concerns regarding historic integrity. After the initially cordial session boils over into a mess of racial dissension, ghosts from the past return for a coda.

While the first act enjoyably builds up to a brawl, it serves mostly as a foundation for the modern-day confrontation. Much as the play ruefully explores cultural misperceptions festering today, it also strikes loud satirical notes regarding the generally bad attitude and manners of our self-involved society. Cell phones ceaselessly ringing, everyone talks over each other (and their lawyers) and nobody bothers to listen.

Another thoughtful play by Norris, whose similarly provocative "The Pain and the Itch" appeared at Playwrights Horizons in 2006, "Clybourne Park" may not persuasively bridge its past and present stories, but it sometimes is bitterly funny, and especially so when commenting upon our me-first lack of honest consideration in matters both great and small.

Director Pam MacKinnon neatly fields a proficient seven-member company, each of whom creates two distinctly different characters. Designer Daniel Ostling's modest arts-and-crafts bungalow interior sadly deteriorates during intermission into what looks like a former crack house, although a pair of stained glass panels poignantly manage to survive the woes of half a century.

"Clybourne Park" continues through March 7 at Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.