Cartoonish racially-themed satire in area ‘sitcom silly’

Posted 11/17/16

The Drama Group’s 36th Season has opened with “Clybourne Park” in Pilling Hall at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave., through Nov. 19, 8 p.m. Seen here are …

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Cartoonish racially-themed satire in area ‘sitcom silly’

Posted
The Drama Group’s 36th Season has opened with “Clybourne Park” in Pilling Hall at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave., through Nov. 19, 8 p.m. Seen here are actors Marjorie Goldman and Ed Marcinkewicz at rehearsal. The Drama Group’s 36th Season has opened with “Clybourne Park” in Pilling Hall at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave., through Nov. 19, 8 p.m. Seen here are actors Marjorie Goldman and Ed Marcinkewicz at rehearsal.[/caption]

by Hugh Hunter

Now running at The Drama Group, “Clybourne Park” (2010) is a satire by Bruce Norris, a spin-off from Lorraine Hansberry's “A Raisin in the Sun (1959).” Marc C. Johnson directs a Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy that deals with the interplay between racism and real estate practices.

In “Raisin,” Karl tries to bribe the African-American Younger family to keep them from moving into Clybourne, a fictional white neighborhood in south-side Chicago. Like the proverbial bad penny, Karl shows up again in the opening act of “Clybourne,” this time trying to dissuade the white owners from selling.

The set catches your eye, a quite attractive house with a white-railed entrance porch that drops down into a living room and breakfast nook. A rotary phone and cathedral radio playing Dave Brubeck date you to 1959, while scattered cartons hint at the impending move (set design, Robert Bauer).

Russ (Ed Marcinkiewicz) and Bev (Marjorie Goldman) are the white house owners. Jim (Bradley Moore) is a cleric neighbor. Francine (Shamika Byrd) is a black housekeeper, Albert (Eric Carter) her husband and Betsy (Allison Deratzian) the wife of Karl (Dante Zappala). They are a supremely silly bunch.

Only Russ truly stands out, and Marcinkiewicz portrays him as a man so weary he can only say "yup" in an irritated way. When you discover the source of his alienation, Russ' genuine grief makes everyone else seem even more superficial.

"In Act Two, 2009," the same actors assume different roles as a white couple now tries to buy the same house from a Younger descendant in what has become a black neighborhood. They are all sitcom silly with racial giddiness, just as they were in 1959, until they break down into actual hostilities.

I found myself feeling more sympathy for the house than for the people. Made over during intermission, the house is run down by 2009 with unseemly wall cracks, peeling paint and plaster. It sits there mute and accusatory, as though it were mourning the falsity of the folks inside.

But in satire, even fools can also be endearing. Not in “Clybourne,” however. In the brief concluding act, "Epilogue, 1957," you revisit the scene of Russ' tragedy on a partially darkened stage. It has nothing to do with race, and you get the feeling it is only there to give you someone with whom you can sympathize.

Playwright Norris plays off the surfaces of issues he does not explore. He argues that we are afraid to talk about race and that nothing has changed in the last 50 years. But you spend time with people who are merely cartoonish.

And for sure, "gentrification" is very topical for a neighborhood like Germantown. But the same process is going full bore in white, blue collar neighborhoods like Fishtown. Perhaps playwright Norris needs to focus on race because he is afraid to talk about class.

The Drama Group is located at 6001 Germantown Ave. inside the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. “Clybourne Park” will run through Nov 19. Tickets available at the door or online at thedramagroup.org

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