Clybourne Park Resource Guide

7/25/2019 Clybourne Park Resource Guide

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Pittsburgh Public Theater Clybourne Park 2012-2013 Season Page 1

Pittsburgh Public Theaters Education and Outreach programs are generously supported

by BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Additional funding for all

youth education programs has been provided by The Grable Foundation and Dominion.


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Contents

The Characters ..................................................................................................................... 3

Synopsis ............................................................................................................................... 4

About the Playwright Bruce Norris ................................................................................... 5

An Interview with Bruce Norris, Clybourne Park playwright, conducted by Rebecca Rugg,

Artistic Producer of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ......................................... 6

A Raisin in the Sun: The Inspiration for Clybourne Park...................................................... 8

Reimagining A Raisin in the Sun: Four New Plays edited by Rebecca Ann Rugg andHarvey Young .......................................................................................................... 10

If These Walls Could Speak: Clybourne Parkand Racism on Americas Stages ................ 12

President Obama and Bev Have Ideas for Hope and Change ........................................... 14

Gentrification ..................................................................................................................... 16

Meet the Cast .................................................................................................................... 17

Meet the Director .............................................................................................................. 20

Theater Etiquette ............................................................................................................... 21

Pennsylvania Academic Standards .................................................................................... 22

Pennsylvania Common Core Standards ............................................................................ 23

References ......................................................................................................................... 24


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The Characters

Act I - 1959

Russ: A man selling his house in the Clybourne Park neighborhood of Chicago

Bev: Russ wife

Kenneth: Russ and Bevs son, a Korean War veteran

Francine: Russ and Bevs housekeeper

Jim: A neighborhood church minister

Albert: Francines husband

Karl: Russ and Bevs neighbor who represents The Community Association

Betsy: Karls wife

Act II - 2009

Tom: A lawyer representing the Property Owners Association

Lindsey: A woman who, with her husband, is buying Russ and Bevs old home

Steve: Lindseys husband

Kathy: Lindsey and Steves lawyer

Lena: A member of the Property Owners Association and relative of the family who

bought the house from Russ and Bev

Kevin: Lenas husband

Dan: A contractor working on the home


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SynopsisReprinted by permission of Center Theatre Groups Education and Community Partnerships Department,

written by Ronald McCants.

Clybourne Parkis set in one house in two separate years: 1959 and 2009. In Act One, its

1959 and Bev and Russ are in the process of moving out of their modest bungalow inClybourne Park, a completely white neighborhood in Chicago. The house and

neighborhood have painful memories for them: there are many rumors going around

the neighborhood about their son and his actions during the Korean War, and Bev and

Russ want to escape the whispering and criticism. When they receive a visit from their

neighbor Karl, a member of the Clybourne Park Neighborhood Association, telling of the

neighborhoods concerns about the new family moving in, Bev and Russ refuse Karls

request to cancel the deal as they have a different perspective on things since their

community has abandoned them.

Act II opens up 50 years later in the same bungalow where a meeting and discussion is

taking place about the house. Clybourne Park is now a predominantly black community.

Two of the people at the meeting are Lindsey and Steve, who are buying the house with

plans to tear it down and build a more modern home. However, Lena, a member of the

Property Owners Association and a relative of the black family who bought the house

from Russ and Bev, argues against the house being demolished because she feels its an

important part of the neighborhoods history. The discussion between Lindsey, Steve,

Lena, her husband, and a couple of lawyers soon changes from renovation to racial

issues and tensions begin to rise.

The playwright, Bruce Norris, makes this interesting observation about the play: In

Clybourne Park, the first act is a tragedy and the second part is a comedy because the

people in the first act all understand each other much more than the people do in the

second act. In the second act everyone makes assumptions.


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About the Playwright Bruce Norris

Other plays include The Infidel(2000), Purple Heart(2002), We All Went Down to

Amsterdam(2003), The Pain and the Itch(2004), The Unmentionables(2006), andA

Parallelogram (2010), all of which had their premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre in

Chicago. Two new plays, titled The Low Roadand Domesticated, respectively, will

premiere in 2013 at the Royal Court Theatre in London and at Lincoln Center Theatre in

New York. His work has also been seen at Playwrights Horizons (New York), Lookingglass

Theatre (Chicago), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre

(Washington, D.C.), Staatstheater Mainz (Germany), and the Galway Festival (Ireland),

among others. He is the recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award (2009) and the

Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama (2006), as well as two Joseph Jefferson Awards

(Chicago) for Best New Work. As an actor he can be seen in the films A Civil Actionand

The Sixth Sense, and the recentAll Good Things. He lives in New York.

Bruce Norris


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An Interview with Bruce Norris, Clybourne Park

playwright, conducted by Rebecca Rugg, Artistic

Producer of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company

[Rebecca Rugg]: Clybourne Parkis a very complex play about race, among othertopics. The experience of watching it, and Ill speak here as a white person, is quite

complicated.

[Bruce Norris]: Well, I think the most interesting question that has been put to me about

it was the one you put to me last time we talked, which was did you write this play for

white people? Remember?

RR: Yeah, and you said yes.

BN: And I said yes.

RR: And I was totally shocked. I was sure you were going to say no.

BN: No, I think it is a play for white people. Its a play about white people. Its about the

white response to race, about being the power elite, about being the people who have

power in the race argument, and what that makes us in the present day - the

contortions that makes us go through. Because on the Left we really, really like to deny

the power that we have. We dont want to seem like were powerful and have the

largest army in the world. We want to pretend that we dont. So, while the play is about

white people, its even better if there are black people in the audience because it makes

white people even more uncomfortable.

RR: Ive heard you say elsewhere, that Clybourne Parkis inspired by Karl Linder, who,

before he was yours, was Lorraine Hansberrys character inA Raisin in the Sun.

BN: I saw A Raisin in the Sun as a film in probably 7th grade. Interestingly our Social

Studies teacher was showing it to a class of all white students who lived in an

independent school district the boundaries of which had been formed specifically to

prevent our being integrated into the Houston school district and being bused to otherschools with black students.

So I dont know whether our teacher was just obtuse or crafty and subversive but she

was showing us a movie that basically in the end because Karl doesnt come in until

the second act -- is really pointing a finger at us and saying we are those people. So I


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watch it at twelve years old and I could realize even then that Im Karl Linder. To see

that when youre a kid and to realize that youre the villain has an impact. For years I

thought I wanted to play Karl Linder but then as time went on I thought its really an

interesting story to think about the conversation that was going on in the white

community about the Younger family moving into Clybourne Park. It percolated for

many years and thats how I ended up writing this play.

Bruce Norris with his 2011 Olivier Award

for Best New Play


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A Raisin in the Sun: The Inspiration for Clybourne Park

Clybourne Parkwas inspired by Lorraine Hansberrys 1959 playA Raisin in the Sunand

picks up where her play left off by looking at two clashing viewpoints on what it means

to be neighborly in a place which different people want to call home. Hansberry, an

African-American woman, based her play on her familys experience of facing harsh

legal opposition when they planned to move into a house her father bought in an all-

white neighborhood. After living in a small apartment for generations, the plays family,

the Youngers, finally moved into their own house that Mama Younger bought using her

late husbands life insurance money. The house she buys, however, is in the all-white

Clybourne Park neighborhood.A Raisin in the Sunbecame a film in 1961 and starred

Sydney Poitier and Ruby Dee, both of whom also starred in the Broadway production.

The civil rights movement was going strong in America at the time of Hansberrys

productions.

In the new Clybourne Park, we meet Russ and Bev Stoller, the white homeowners who

decided to sell their house. It's still 1959, and in Act I, Karl Linder, the head of the

Neighborhood Association, wants to stop the sale because he's discovered the buyers

are black.

Ruby Dee (Ruth Younger), Sydney

Poitier (Walter Younger), Claudia

McNeil (Lena Younger), and Diana

Sands (Beneatha Younger)

A Raisin in the Sun

1961 film


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Lorraine HansberrysA Raisin in the Sunwas named from a line

in the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes

Harlem

By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream

deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?


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Living Greenby Gloria Bond Clunie

Meet Angela and Frank Freeman, hardworking parents

who moved out of the old neighborhood years ago to

give their children, Dempsey and Carol, what they never

had - access to great schools and well-manicured lawns.

Trouble is, Frank is worried he and Angela may havetraded away their childrens identity as African

Americans in the process. With Carol about to graduate

from high school, Frank suggests they move back to the

city, and join a few families who are trying to make a

difference. Angela, however, is too worried about safety. Thanks, she says, but I like

life. Newly energized with the sense of community generated by the Million Man

March, the Freemans make plans to sell their home, just as they take in 16-year-old

Shondra, a bright girl raised in the projects. Can their newfound idealism survive the

very real challenges Shondra brings into their home?

Etiquette of Vigilanceby Robert O'Hara

Over 50 years have passed since Travis and

his parents became the first black family to

integrate Chicagos segregated Clybourne

Park neighborhood. Now Lorraine, Traviss

only daughter and the first in her family to

attend college, is buckling under the

pressure of her familys long deferred

dream. In this contemporary

reconsideration of Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, OHaras poignant new play

imagines what might have happened to the beleaguered Younger familyand asks us to

consider the wounds still healing from the days of city-sanctioned segregation.


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If These Walls Could Speak: Clybourne Parkand Racism

on Americas Stages

The topic of race is something that Americans often arent sure how to discuss. It has

always been challenging to approach this topic with openness and understanding. There

are hundreds of years of history and misunderstanding and deeply held prejudices that

make the conversation so challenging. While Clybourne Parkshows that the content of

the race conversation has not changed much over the last 50 years, there have been

many creative attempts to engage in discussion through books, plays, films, and music.

Sydney Poitier starred in the 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinneralongside

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. In this film, the daughter of an upper-class white

family returns home with her new fianc who happens to be black. Though she was

raised to accept all people as equal, and though her fianc is a very successful doctor,

her parents have a hard time accepting that she has fallen in love with a black man. At

this time in American history, interracial marriages were still frowned-upon and were

even illegal in at least a dozen (mostly Southern) states. Guess Whos Coming to Dinner

won the Academy Awards for Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn) and Best Original

Screenplay.

The 1989 film Do The Right Thing, which was written, produced, and directed by Spike

Lee, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The film takes place on ahot summer day in a black neighborhood in Brooklyn as tensions rise among the

residents, local teenagers, the police, and the local Italian restaurant owner and his

family. The controversial film ends with a riot in the street and leaves the audience to

wonder if the main character, Mookie, did the right thing, and whether the life of a

black man or the property of a white man is more important. That same year the award

for Best Picture went to Driving Miss Daisywhich was based on the off-Broadway play of

the same name by Alfred Uhry (produced at Pittsburgh Public Theater in 2002, also

directed by Pamela Berlin). Daisylooks at an unlikely friendship that develops between

a wealthy Southern Jewish woman, Miss Daisy, and the African-American man, Hoke,

who her son hires to be her driver. The film takes place in the years between 1948 and

the mid-1970s at a time when the South was still deeply segregated. As their friendship

develops, Miss Daisy (and the audience) learns some hard facts about what life as a

black man was like at that time.


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Renowned Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson wrote what is

known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, which is a series of 10 plays

that are all set in a different decade and set in Pittsburghs Hill

District neighborhood. Wilson won Pulitzer Prizes for two of

the plays, 1987s Fences, and 1990s The Piano Lesson. His

plays offered white Americans a different way to look atblack Americans, he said in an interview. Wilsons characters

may be a person working a menial job that white Americans see

every day, but who experiences the same kind of feelings and situations in his or her

own life. Wilson continued, Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as

theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives.

August Wilsons writing was influenced by the writings of James Baldwin who was born

in 1947 and grew up very poor in New York City. His writings dealt with the personal

difficulties faced by black Americans and other minority social class groups when trying

to integrate into society. He wrote many essays about the unrest of the 1960s and the

Civil Rights Movement, such as The Hard Kind of Courage and the book-length essay

The Fire Next Time, and became a very vocal spokesman for the movement. Time

magazine put Baldwin on the cover in the spring of 1963 and stated, There is not

another writer who expresses with such poignancy and abrasiveness the dark realities of

the racial ferment in North and South.

The song Accidental Racist by Brad Paisley and featuring LL Cool J is one recent

contribution to the public discourse on race. In it Paisley sings that as a white man from

the South, he is Tryin' to understand what it's like not to be. LL Cool Js rapped lyrics

offer a response to the country singers words by saying, Dear Mr. White Man, I wish

you understood/What the world is really like when you're livin' in the hood. The song

immediately received an overwhelmingly negative response on the Internet. (Gawker

called it a Real, Horrible song; a Time music contributor says its impossible to be an

accidental racist and hopes to never hear [the] horrible song again) In a USA Today

article, however, Paisley expressed his belief that the purpose of art is to promotediscussion, and that he hopes this song will inspire people to be honest with each other

and explore those hard questions. LL Cool J considered it bold and courageous for

Paisley to release this song. He said, If he's willing to take that bold step to bring about

some healing, bring about some dialogue, get people to talk, especially at this time in

America, I'm with it 100%.

August Wilson


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President Obama and Bev Have Ideas for Hope and

Change

excerpts from Post-Racial Farce by Frank Rich, NY Magazine, May 20, 2012.

The plays 52-year-old author, Bruce Norris, is white. He has already won the Pulitzer

Prize for this work and next month could win the Tony, too. Though Clybourne Park

didnt arrive on Broadway until this spring, it has been a cultural fixture during much of

the Obama presidency. Norris started writing Clybournein 2006, before Obama ran for

president. He tweaked the script slightly after his ascension. Even though I was a

supporter, the playwright said when I spoke to him recently, I listened to his speech of

hope and change, and I thought to myself, Good luck. That pessimism led him to add a

line for the character of Bev, a white fifties housewife even more sheltered than Betty

Draper from the America outside her immediate domain. I really believe things areabout to change for the better, she says. Bevs nave declaration of hope, delivered in

the plays coda, seems laughably delusional after the audience has bathed in two hours

of mayhem among the white and black characters, none of it happily resolved. However

well meaning, shes a fool destined to be mowed down by historical forces she doesnt

remotely understand or anticipate.

Both halves of the play are about a fight over a plain little house in the (fictional)

neighborhood of Clybourne Park. In 1959, a three-generation black family from a ghetto

on the South Side has just purchased it and is preparing to move inover the objections

of a neighborhood association that wants to keep its enclave lily-white. By 2009, that

battle over integration is half-forgotten ancient history. Clybourne Park, like so many

other urban neighborhoods nationwide, had long ago turned black in the wake of

wholesale white flight to the suburbs. The house has since devolved into a graffiti-

defaced teardown, battered by decades of poverty, crime, drugs, and neglect. But lo and

behold, the neighborhood is changing again. A young white suburban couple is

moving back into the rapidly gentrifying Clybourne Park. Its convenient for work, and

theres a new Whole Foods besides. The only hitch is that middle-class African-Americans in the present-day neighborhood association are as hostile to white intruders

as their racist white antecedents were to black home-buyers 50 years earlier.


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Following its Off Broadway premiere at Playwrights Horizons in early 2010, Clybourne

Parkhas been produced in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; London (where

it won the Tony equivalent, the Olivier); and Obamas own town of Chicago. Chicago is

also where the play is set, in two very different American eras 50 years apart1959 (Act

I) and 2009 (Act II). Or nominally different, anyway. Clybourne Parksays that when it

comes to race in America, not that much has changed over the past half-century, thehistoric arrival of an African-American family in the White House notwithstanding.

Clybourne Park

Broadway Playbill, 2012


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Gentrification

gentrification

noun\jen-trY-fY-k-shYn\, jen-truh-fi-kay-shun

In Act II of Clybourne Park, the characters

discussion begins to hint at the possibility of white

gentrification occurring in the neighborhood if

Lindsey and Steve buy the house and demolish it to

build something bigger. As the definition of

gentrification suggests, the possibility exists that

once Lindsey and Steve move in, other upper- or

middle-class people would follow suit, thus

pushing away former residents as property valuesbecome too high for them to afford to stay.

Some positive effects of gentrification include a

reduction in crime, increased property values,

increased support of local businesses, and an

increase in social mix. On the other hand, negative

effects include resident displacement due to rent

and price increases, loss of affordable housing, and

community resentment and conflict. The negative

effects are worrisome to the characters in

Clybourne Park.

The term gentrification was coined by British

sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964. She used the

example of London and its working class districts to

describe the arrival of middle-class people that

resulted in displacing lower-class and working

people.

Dictionary.com

Definition of GENTRIFICATION

the buying and renovation of houses

and stores in deteriorated urban

neighborhoods by upper- or middle-

income families or individuals, thus

improving property values but often

displacing low-income families and

small businesses

Sentence using GENTRIFICATION

Renovation and gentrification have

already pushed up rents.

Root word: GENTRIFY

renovate so as to make it conform to

middle-class aspirations

Synonyms for GENTRIFY

bring up to date, fix up, mend,

modernize, overhaul, rehabilitate,

renovate, repair, restore, resume,

resuscitate, revitalize, reviveUrban Dictionary

Definition of GENTRIFICATION

When "urban renewal" of lower class

neighborhoods with condos attracts

yuppie tenants, driving up rents and

driving out long time, lower income

residents. It often begins with

influxes of local artists looking for a

cheap place to live, giving the

neighborhood a bohemian flair. This

hip reputation attracts yuppies who

want to live in such an atmosphere,

driving out the lower income artists

and lower income residents, often

ethnic/racial minorities, changing the

social character of the neighborhood.

It also involves the "yuppification" of

local businesses; shops catering to

yuppie tastes like sushi restaurants,

Starbucks, etc... come to replace local

businesses displaced by higher rents.


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Meet the Cast

BRAD BELLAMY(Russ/Dan) is a member of the Ensemble

Studio Theatre and was formerly an artist in residence at

Manhattan Punch Line. Brad's most recent New York

appearances were in the Off-Broadway productions of MarchMadness,Alphabetical Order, and the Drama Desk-

nominated So Help Me God. He played Stefano in the 400th

anniversary production of The Tempest. Regional credits

include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Atlanta's Alliance, Cleveland Play House, Dallas

Theatre Center, Denver Center, Long Wharf, and Pittsburgh Public among others. His

film appearances include Ira and Abby, Burning Point, Tied to a Chair, The Adventures of

Arthur Conan Doyle, andA Kiss for Jed Wood. On television he's been seen as the special

musical guest in ABC's "On the Edge," with Rodney Dangerfield in "It's Not Easy BeingMe," "30 Rock," "Law & Order SVU," "Conviction," and commercials for AARP, Snickers,

Sprint, Wendy's and many others.

BJORN DuPATY(Albert/Kevin) Theater:Julius Caesar,A

Comedy of Errors(The Acting Co.), Myrna in Transit(EST),

The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness (Ma-Yi

Theater Co.) Bjorn is a lifetime member of Ensemble

Studio Theatre and holds an MFA from Rutgers

University. Film/TV: "All My Children," "Zero Hour."

www.bjorndupaty.com

MEGAN HILL(Betsy/Lindsey) is delighted to make her

Pittsburgh Public debut. Recent and favorite credits include:

The House of Von Macrame(The Management/Bushwick Starr),

The Bird and the Two Ton Weight(EST/Unfiltered Fest), Hand to

God(EST), DisQuiet(undergroundzero), Cut(The Management),

Robert Wilson's The Watermill Quintet(Implied Violence/TheGuggenheim), Lonesome Winter(which she co-wrote with

Joshua Conkel), The Sluts of Sutton Drive(EST/Unfiltered Fest),

Fissuresat the Humana Festival (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Little Dog Laughed

(Intiman Theatre), Stupid Kids(Empty Space Theatre). She has also worked at The Lark,

New Dramatists, Primary Stages, Rising Phoenix Rep, San Francisco Playhouse, Studio


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43, Stein/Holum, The Arden, Incubator Arts, Target Margin, Seattle Children's Theater,

Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Rep, Theater Seven Chicago, among others.

Megan is a company member of The Management and Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST).

She holds a BFA in Acting and Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts and an

MFA from American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre IATT at Harvard University.

You can watch her web series "ME+U" at www.meplusu.tv.

TIM McGEEVER(Karl/Steve) is thrilled to be returning to Pittsburgh Public where he was

last seen in 2010's The Time of Your Life. Pittsburgh

audiences will also remember Tim from Time Stands Stillat

City Theatre. Tim has appeared on Broadway in Les Liasion

Dangereuses(with Laura Linney), Don't Dress for Dinner, and

Cyrano DeBergerac, all at the Roundabout. Off-Broadway

credits include The Common Pursuit(Roundabout), Chaucer

in Rome(Lincoln Center), The White Devil(BAM), Lifegame

(Improbably UK), Tartuffe(The Public), Fully Committed

(Cherry Lane), and more. Tim played Zazu in the national

tour of The Lion King. He has worked with many NYC

companies and more than 20 regional theaters. Tim has appeared in several

independent films but is most excited about the upcoming Progression. It is set in

Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood and was made by many of the Steel City's most

creative artists and film-making professionals. Tim trained at Juilliard.

JARED McGUIRE (Jim/Tom/Kenneth) New York credits include: The Secret Catcherand

The Last Day(Ensemble Studio Theatre), Leave the Balcony

Openand Photograph 51(3LD), In the Middle of the Night(EST

Marathon), The Rubber Room(NYC Fringe Festival), and The

Memorandum(Abingdon Theater). Regional: Master Harold

and the Boysat Palm Beach Dramaworks and Cape May Stage,

Speech and Debate(American Theatre Company, regional

premiere), the films SubterraNYaand Last Night With The Boys,as well as many collaborative presentations at the

Southhampton Writers Conference including Three Farces and

a Funeral (with Alan Alda), Seagull in the Hamptons(with Harris Yulin), and Wild Animals

You Should Know(directed by Joe Mantello).


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chandra thomas(Francine/Lena) is thrilled to be making her

Pittsburgh Public Theater debut. Originally from New York,

chandra's theater performances include contemporary and

classic works Off-Broadway, in New York, and regionally at

Classical Theatre of Harlem (AUDELCO nomination), Public

Theater, Women's Project Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, DelawareTheatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination), Cincinnati

Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theatre, among others. Some of

her television credits include "The Good Wife" and "Too Big to

Fail." Her film credits include the upcoming features Labor Day

and Sweet Lorraine. chandra is also a writer and producer.

Recent productions include Standing At... (Downtown Urban

Theatre Festival, Heideman Award finalist), Forgive to Forget(Solo Flight Festival), and

LOVE/YOUTH Project, a collaborative theatrical response of professional artists to the

violence against LGBTQ youth. chandra is co-founder of viBe Theater Experience, a non-

profit performing arts education organization empowering teenage girls in New York

City. MFA: Columbia University. More at www.chandrathomas.com and @truechandra.

LYNNE WINTERSTELLER(Bev/Kathy) Broadway:A Grand Night for Singing(Roundabout),

Annie(Uris). Off-Broadway: Revisiting Wildfire, Closer Than Ever

(Drama Desk "Best Actress" nomination), Richard Cory(NYMF

"Best Actress" Award),The Mistress Cycle, I Wrote a Letter to My

Love, Nunsense, Gifts of the Magi, Picnic at Hanging Rock,The

Grass Harp. Regional:Circle Mirror Transformation (St. Louis Rep

- Kevin Kline Award), Dinner With Friends(Alley), Lend Me a

Tenorand Rumors(Walnut St.), M. Butterfly(Syracuse Stage),

Scenery(Saugatuck Mason Str. - world premiere). Regional

Musicals: Sunset Boulevard, The Light in the Piazza, The Ghost &

Mrs. Muir (LA Ovation "Best Actress" nomination), Kiss Me Kate,

42nd Street, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Television: "Law & Order: CI," "Total Security," "Big

Brother Jake," "Chapelle's Show," plus numerous commercials. Original Cast Recordings:Closer Than Ever,A Grand Night for Singing, Broadway Sings Christmas,Lost in Boston

III, Unsung Musicals II(Varese Saraband label). www.lynnewintersteller.com


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Meet the Director

PAMELA BERLIN(Director) has directed five

previous productions at Pittsburgh Public

Theater:RED,A Moon for the Misbegotten,

Talley's Folly, Driving Miss Daisy, and Tea. NewYork credits include: Steel Magnolias(also L.A.,

Chicago, and National Tour), To Gillian on her

37th Birthday(Circle in the Square), The

Cemetery Club(Broadway),Joined at the Head

(Manhattan Theatre Club), The Family of Mann

and Red Address(Second Stage), Black Inkand

Elm Circle(Playwrights Horizons),Snowing at

Delphi, Club Sodaand Peacetime(WPA), CloseTies(Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regionally she

has directed at the Long Wharf, Kennedy Center, Huntington, Seattle Rep, Pasadena

Playhouse, Portland Stage, Virginia Stage, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto. Opera credits: La

Traviata, Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly, Lucia di Lammermore, Eugene Onegin, A

Midsummer Night's Dream, Of Mice and Men. Pamela teaches at the Mason Gross

School of the Arts at Rutgers University and served for six years as President of the Stage

Directors and Choreographers Society, a national labor union.


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Theater Etiquette

Things to remember when attending the theater

When you visit the theater you are attending a live performance with actors that are

working right in front of you. This is an exciting experience for you and the actor.

However, in order to have the best performance for both the audience and actors there

are some simple rules to follow. By following these rules, you can ensure that you can

be the best audience member you can be, as well as keep the actors focused on giving

their best performance.

1.

Turn off all cell phones, beepers, watches etc.

2. Absolutely no text messaging during the performance.

3. Do not take pictures during the performance.

4. Do not eat or drink in the theater.

5. Do not place things on the stage or walk on the stage.

6. Do not leave your seat during the performance unless it is an emergency.

If you do need to leave for an emergency, leave as quietly as possible and

know that you might not be able to get back in until after intermission.

7. Do claplet the actors know you are enjoying yourself.

8. Do enjoy the show and have fun watching the actors.

9. Do tell other people about your experience and be sure to ask questions and

discuss the performance.


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Pennsylvania Academic Standards

Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening

1.2 Students read, understand, and respond to essential content in a variety of informational

texts and documents.

1.3 Students analyze the characteristics and effectiveness of the play, the use of literaryelements, and the use of literary devices.

1.4 Students compose dramatic scenes where they work to construct dialogue, develop

character, and outline plot.

1.6 Students listen critically; respond with appropriate questions, ideas, information, or

opinions; and demonstrate awareness of audience using appropriate volume and clarity in

speaking presentations.

1.9 Students analyze the techniques of media messages to evaluate how they influence

society.

Civics and Government

5.1 Students apply examples of the rule of law as related to individual rights and the common

good, and will analyze the principles and ideals that shape the United States government.

5.2 Students analyze citizens rights and responsibilities, and analyze citizens roles in the

political process toward the attainment of goals for individual and public good.

5.3 Students explain how government agencies create, amend, and enforce policies in

governments, and analyze the influence of interest groups in the political process.

Economics

6.1 Students analyze how choices are made because of scarcity, and explain how incentives

cause people to change their behavior in predictable ways.

6.5 Students define wealth, and analyze how risks influence business decision-making.

Geography

7.3 Students explain the human characteristics of places and regions according to population,

culture, settlement, economic activities, and political activities.

7.4 Students compare and contrast the effect of people on the physical region across regions

of the United States.

History

8.1 Students compare patters of continuity and change over time, applying context of events;

students compare the interpretation of historical events and sources, considering the use of

fact versus opinion, multiple perspectives, and cause and effect relationships.


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8.3 Students compare the role groups and individuals played in the societal, political, and

economic development of the U.S., and interpret how conflict and cooperation among groups

and organizations have impacted the growth and development of the U.S.

Arts and Humanities

9.1 Students know and recognize elements and principles of the theatre art form; identify and

use comprehensive vocabulary within the theatre art form; communicate a unifying theme or

point of view through the theatre production; explain the function and benefits of rehearsal

and practice sessions; and know where arts events, performances, and exhibitions occur and

how to gain admission.

9.2 Students explain the historical, cultural, and social context of a work of art; analyze a work

of art from its historical and cultural perspectives; and know and apply appropriate vocabulary

used between social studies and the arts and humanities.

9.3 Students evaluate works in the arts and humanities using a complex vocabulary of critical

response.

Career Awareness and Preparation

13.1 Relate careers to individual and personal interests, abilities, and aptitudes.

13.4 Identify and describe the basic components of a business plan.

Pennsylvania Common Core Standards

On July 1, 2010, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted the Common Core StateStandards in English language arts and mathematics. The regulations pertaining to these

standards took effect upon their publication in the October 16, 2010 edition of the Pennsylvania

Bulletin. The transition to Common Core will begin during the 2010-2011 school year, with full

implementation by July 1, 2013.

English Language Arts

CC.1.3 Reading Literature: Students read and respond to works of literature with an

emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with a focuson textual evidence.

CC.1.5 Speaking and Listening: Students present appropriately in formal speaking situations,

listen critically, and respond intelligently as individuals or in group discussions.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/current_initiatives/19720/common_core_state_standa

rds/792440


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References

Raisin in the Sun, A: film version. Britannica.com. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Web.

12 April 2013. Retrieved from

A Raisin in the Sun. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 17 April 2013. Web. 12 April

2013. Retrieved from

August Wilson. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 22 March 2013. Web. 12 April


Blank, Matthew. A COVER STORY: Clybourne Park. Playbill.com. Playbill, Inc., 5 March 2012.

Web. 10 April 2013. Retrieved from

Brad Paisley Accidental Racist Lyrics. RapGenius.com. Genius Media Group, Inc., 2013. Web.


Bruce Norris (playwright). Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 10 April 2013. Web. 12

April 2013. Retrieved from

Bruce Norris Pictures The Olivier Awards 2011.Zimbio.com. Livingly Media, Inc., 2013. Web.


Civil Rights Act of 1968. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 14 April 2013. Web. 12

April 2013. Retrieved from

Corley, Cheryl. New Clybourne Park Picks Up on 1959 Race Issues. NPR.org. NPR. 11

November 2011. Web. 10 April 2013. Retrieved from

Do The Right Thing. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 16 April 2013. Web. 12 April



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Driving Miss Daisy (play). Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 27 February 2013.


Driving Miss Daisy. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 10 March 2013. Web. 12 April


Etiquette of Vigilance. Reimaginingraisin.com. n.d. Web. 17 April 2013. Retrieved from

Gentrification. Dictionary.reference.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2013. Web. 12 April 2012.

Retrieved from

Gentrify. Thesaurus.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2013. Web. 12 April 2013. Retrieved from

James Baldwin. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 5 April 2013. Web. 12 April 2013.

Retrieved from

Living Green. Reimaginingraisin.com. n.d. Web. 17 April 2013. Retrieved from

Mansfield, Brian. Brad Paisley: Art should promote discussion. USAToday.com. Gannett, 9

April 2013. Web. 10 April 2013. Retrieved from

accidental-racist-interview/2063401/

Neighbors. Reimaginingraisin.com. n.d. Web. 17 April 2013. Retrieved from

Race, Pulitzers, and Punchlines. Steppenwolf.org. Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 2013. Web.


Read, Max. Accidental Racist Is a Real, Horrible Song by Brad Paisley and LL Cool J.

Gawker.com. Gawker, 8 April 2013. Web. 12 April 2013. Retrieved from


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Reimagining A Raisin in the Sun: Four New Plays. Reimaginingraisin.com. n.d. Web. 17 April


Rich, Frank. Post-Racial Farce. NYMag.com. New York Media LLC, 20 May 2012. Web. 29 Mar.


Tour. Viewpoint: You Cant Be An Accidental Racist. Time.com. Time Inc., 11 April 2013.


Urban Dictionary: gentrification. UrbanDictionary.com. Urban Dictionary, 2013. Web. 12 April


Clybourne Park Resource Guide

Documents