Clybourne Park

Creating a production of a play for an audience to appreciate is very demanding. The cast of producers, directors, actors, songwriters, and many more work together to achieve this goal. There is a rubric one must follow to create a “perfect” play, and that is a director’s “unifying image”, selection of a theatrical place, an approach to a scenic design, a costume design, a lighting design, and a sound design. Only after achieving these main points will a production see the hope of playing on Broadway. This will show how I would do my mock production of “Clybourne Park” by Bruce Norris, and how it will make it to the top by using the previously stated guidelines.

            First and foremost, a director’s “unifying image” is “integrat[ing] the acting with the play, set, costumes, light and sound to create the seamless illusion of reality on the stage… [and] to unify the stage elements with the play text.” (Felner 219). In “Clybourne Park”, my unifying image will be the portraying of the hardship a family goes through while moving into a predominantly different ethnic neighborhood and vice versa. This will be done through the sets, light and sound, costumes, and symbols. I felt that this was the main theme of the play. In the first Act, Karl Lindner did not want an African American family to move into a primarily white neighborhood. Lindner kept fighting until the end of the Act to prove his point. In the second Act, it starts fairly neutral, but then it quickly riles up. Towards the end of the Act, the African American family does not want a white family to move into what seems a mostly black neighborhood.

            In addition to a director’s “unifying image”, a scenic designer must perfect the texture of the play. This production is going straight to the top. This will be played on Broadway. Although I feel like this play will not make it, playing it on anything else than Broadway will not do it justice. This play must be played on Broadway because not only does it incorporate the past but also the present; therefore, this play can relate to wide range on ages. The play has a feeling of 1950s style, but it also has more modern aspects to it. The set will start with a few houses being visible, and slowly zoom into the middle one. This house will break open in half, and this will be the set. The kitchen and living room will be visible. They will be side-by-side with the kitchen on the right and the living room on the left. The backyard door will be in the back on the kitchen side. Only one couch and one small table will encompass the living room. This is where the first Act will take place because everyone is in the living room while Bev makes trips from the kitchen to the living room. An island will be in the kitchen in the middle. This is where Act 2 will take place because the cast will be around it performing their parts.  While reading the play, I felt that this neighborhood was very close to the city. This means that skyscrapers will be in the background, which can be seen through the backyard door.

            Not only will a scenic designer perfect the texture, but the sound must also be perfected. Since this neighborhood is fairly close to the city, it will have the “city noise” in the background. This “city noise” ranges from cars honking and a train’s horn going off to people shouting. This will make the play livelier and give it a city feeling. Also in both plays, a radio will be playing, but it will not play music. It will play advertisements and commentators for a sports game. The commentators will say the time, place, and the date.

            To complete this play, it still needs a costume design and a lighting design. The costume design for the first Act will be very different than the second Act. In the first Act, costumes will be distinguishable between the blacks and whites. By this, I mean that the blacks will dress very poorly; for example, rugged pants with a dirty dark shirt. This would symbolize the hardship that blacks still suffered through even in the 1900s. The whites would wear comfortable clothes; for example, kakis with a button up shirt. The shirts would be brightly colored and tucked in with a belt to complete the costume. In the second Act, everyone will be dressed fairly similar. Everyone will have jean pants with a collared shirt. This will symbolize that everyone is equal. The lighting design in the first Act will also be different in the second Act. In the first Act, the light will be much darker than in the first. The room will almost look like a tan lighting. This will be from candles spread out and old, dirty light bulbs. In the second Act, the lighting will be very bright and modern; for example, a florescent bulb will be used on lamps. Also, the sun will be much more visible in the background.  This will give it a brighter feeling.