Mock Production of Clybourne Park

                For my production of Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park the directors unifying vision would be focusing on the world, how the times and people haven’t changed. People are not ready and able to fully accept change, different types of people, backgrounds, and culture. The many aspects of racism are still around just as they were 50 years ago. It may be kept hidden now days and stuffed under the rug but, it is still very much present in our lives.  My vision will be presented through the actors of stage they will have costumes to represent their cultures and economic statuses. I will also play up the actor’s communication with each other; the constant speaking over one another, not listening  or letting the other get a word in to show how set everyone is in their own ways, not accepting others ideas and opinions.  I would also use lighting to help contribute to my vision making it darker on the person trying to speak but, not getting heard until the eventual “snapping” of the character making the others listen and at that point it would be brighter focused light on the speaker.

                I would place my performance in the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, England.  I chose this theatre because the circular shape is representative to the world, with the actors on stage and then the audience on all sides surrounding them.  Also, this location, how the theatre is set up, and the history of the theatre contribute to the image of class and economic statuses (the groundlings and the high level seats for the rich) in the play. The audience I would chose for the play would be an older crowd of 40 years old+ consisting of mostly black and white people. I want people with these demographics because they bring with them past experiences of racism over time and can see how many things have indeed stayed the same.

                For the scenic design the play would take place for both acts in the living room of the Clydbourne Park home.  Act 1 would be set in the 1950’s. It would have very minimal props, a single dining room chair, end table, a record player, and the many boxes scattered about the room.  On the end table there would lay a newspaper with the current status on the war in Vietnam.  For providing an environment that embodies the character’s lives I want it to look empty, messy but the few things that are left unpacked are very nice expensive looking items. There will also be lavish wood carvings into the architecture of the home. The architecture will be especially noticed in the staircase railing descending across the back of the stage.

 The audience can tell a richer family owned the home. I want the empty and messy feeling to compliment the character’s lives and how they really feel inside over the things that happened in their life.  The audience would laugh at times and be sorrowful in others. I want the audience to be relatively passive. For Act 2 scenic design, it is set in 2009; it would also have very minimal props. There would be nothing to sit on, a tiny radio laying by the back door, tools laying around, saw dust everywhere, and a couple of boxes here and there. The staircase railing would now be broken and there are chips and scuffs all over the wood in the house, everything looks old and dated.  On one box has a newspaper on it with the current status on the war in Afghanistan on the front cover. The newspaper’s war status represents the violence and how things haven’t changed over 50 years. The destruction and deterioration of the home shows how time and economics took a hold of it. The environment would be awkward with the lack of seating with correlates to the awkwardness amongst the characters and script in Act 2.

                The costume design for Act 1 would be to really show the different class and cultures among the characters. The white women would have on 1950’s A-line dresses with beautiful earrings and necklaces.  The white men would be in gray flannel business suits with the exception of Russ for the beginning of the play because he was wearing PJs but, he changes into a business suit.  Francine would be wearing a typical 1950’s maid outfit with a rag over her hair. Albert would wear an old style fedora hat with blue jeans and a casual button up shirt. For Act 2 Lindsey would be dressed in a maternity gown while the other two women are in casual business suit skirt outfit. Tom the lawyer is also in suit pants and a nice button down shirt while the other men are in casual shorts, t-shirt and sneakers. The switch from the 1950’s men wearing suits to the women in 2009 is my own way of showing how women are not just the housewives anymore. There’s isn’t much economic differences between the characters in Act 2, race doesn’t define that any longer and that is portrayed through the clothing. To show the relationships and further emphasize how the same actors play the different characters in each act their costumes would be the same color for example Lindsey and Betsy are the same actress so I would put them in yellow. 

1950's A-line dress

Maid's outfit and white women's outfits

                The lighting for the play would be bright sunlight coming in from the windows and a couple of overhead lights on the ceiling. But when the character is trying to speak to the group but, is not getting respect or being heard there will be dim lighting over them until finally they break through the disrespect and are finally acknowledged.  In Act 2 the lighting will be a little dimmer the lights that were in the house for Act 1 are now broken so, the only source of light is from the windows.

                The sound design for Act 1 would be lots of noise, there would be lots of noise coming from outside of the house with the cars driving/honking horns, people yelling outside the house, the church bells ringing. None of the sounds are very pleasant. The record player at the end of the Act 1 will play “There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters, it’s a jazz song and its lyrics go well with the end of the act. The lyrics are asking “where did my baby go….why did she leave me so alone” which could be Russ and Bev’s song to Kenneth wondering why he left them. For Act 2, the noisiness of the house is just the same, with the church bells, loud streets and now construction of the home. The noisiness in both acts shows how the world outside the house hasn’t changed its still not a peaceful place. At the end of Act 2 I would have Dan before he opens the trunk turn of the little stereo and have the same song playing again as a “throwback” on the radio station as he reads the letter and the last moments of Kenneth’s life play.