We previously announced that Elizabeth Leigh Taylor would be directing Clybourne Park, and due to familial and work obligations, she has decided to step down as director but gladly and confidently passes the reigns to Dan Maloney, and looks forward to serving this show as producer.

 

Audition Dates/Times:

Sunday, April 21 from 2:00 – 4:30 PM

Monday, April 22 from 7:00 – 9:30 PM
 

Auditionees only need to attend one audition date.

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Location: Mariemont Players – 4101 Walton Creek Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45227

 

Audition Requirements:

• Head shots and resumes are appreciated, but not required.

• Be prepared to read from the script.

• Actors not available for the audition dates may contact the director before the scheduled auditions at maloneykd@gmail.com.

• Auditionees must be 18 years of age or older at the start of the rehearsal process.

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Production Dates: September 5 – 22, 2024

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Synopsis: Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set fifty years apart. Act One takes place in 1959, as white community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same, fifty years on? This excruciatingly funny and squirm-inducing satire explores the fault line between race and property. Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun.

 

Casting

Actors will play one character in Act I and a different character in Act II.

 

Russ / Dan – late 40’s, white, male

Bev / Kathy – 40’s, white, female

Karl / Steve – 30’s, white, male

Betsy / Lindsey – late 20’s, white, female

Francine / Lena – 30’s, black, female

Jim / Tom – late 20’s, white, male

Albert / Kevin – 30’s, black, male

Kenneth – white, male

 

Full character descriptions can be found below.

 

Rehearsal Schedule: Rehearsals will begin at the end of July and scheduled around the cast. Note, Labor Day falls during what is traditionally Tech Week. Tech may be held early depending on availability.

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Performances: September 5 – 22, 2024

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Full Character Descriptions

Actors will play one character in Act I and a different character in Act II.

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Russ / Dan – late 40’s, white, male

Russ – Married to Bev. Father of Kenneth. Although once a funny and social man, Russ has become depressed in the wake of his son’s suicide. He is withdrawn and uncommunicative, which worries and scares his wife. Although he argues against Karl and Jim’s segregationist dreams for Clybourne Park, it is unclear if he believes in integration or simply does not care what happens to the neighborhood as long as he doesn’t have to stay.

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Dan – A contractor working for Steve and Lindsey. Dan is digging a trench in their backyard during the play’s second act. He’s well-meaning but tactless, often interrupting emotionally charged conversations.

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Bev / Kathy – 40’s, white, female

Bev – Married to Russ. Mother of Kenneth. Bev is outgoing and peacemaking. She enjoys cultivating friendships in the neighborhood and is disturbed by her husband’s social withdrawal. She criticizes Russ for his new cynical outlook on life, attempting to deal with her grief by putting on a happy face. However, she is clearly still devastated by the loss of her son, and her days are empty without him. Bev is open-minded about the idea of integration, and does her best to treat Francine, her black maid, with respect, but is still ignorant about racial and class differences, and can be unintentionally offensive.

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Kathy – Daughter of Karl and Betsy who moved out of Clybourne Park before Kathy was born. Kathy is working as a lawyer for Steve and Lindsey. Kathy is talkative, which is unfortunate as she is also clueless and frequently makes unintentionally offensive remarks. She’s happy to let the conversation wander off track for minutes at a time.

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Karl / Steve – 30’s, white, male

Karl – Married to Betsy. Father of Kathy. Discovers that the Younger family who has purchased Bev and Russ’s house is black, and he goes to their home to try and bribe them into giving up their new house. Karl is a doting, protective husband who so deeply cares about this wife’s well-being that his behavior toward her becomes patronizing. He likes to talk but hates to listen. Arguments with him are aggravating for all parties involved. He is an aggressive opponent of integration in the neighborhood. Of all the characters that appears in the play, he is the most openly racist, although his racism is couched in genuine (if misguided) concern for his community.

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Steve – Married to Lindsey. Steve is outgoing and friendly, but he has no sense of what is appropriate to say in public. As a middle class or upper middle class white man, Steve is rarely marginalized and therefore rarely offended. He has difficulty imagining that other people could be offended by the things he says. He demonstrates very little empathy for those whose lives are different from his own.

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Betsy / Lindsey – late 20’s, white, female

Betsy – Married to Karl. Mother of Kathy. Betsy is pregnant, which causes Karl to treat her gently and carefully, both because of the pregnancy and because she had previously suffered a miscarriage. Betsy is deaf but can read lips and communicate through sign language. She can speak, but it is sometimes difficult for the other characters to fully understand her. She is good-natured and seems to assume the best of the people around her.

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Lindsey – Married to Steve. Visibly pregnant. She and Steve have purchased the house in Clybourne Park that Bev, Russ, and the Youngers used to live in and have planned to extensively renovate the house. Lindsey is bubbly and personable, always trying hard to make sure she is accommodating and inoffensive. She frequently expresses embarrassment at the tactlessness of her husband. She is more assertive in her private conversations with Steve, and she makes many of the decisions in their marriage. Both the baby and the renovation of their new home were her idea.

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Francine / Lena – 30’s, black, female

Francine – Married to Albert. Works as a maid for Bev and Russ Stoller, and although she doesn’t seem to particularly like the couple, she is kind to Bev. Francine is aware that she must remain quiet and respectful around the Stollers and their white neighbors if she wants to keep her job, but by the end of the first act she is clearly fed up with politely tolerating their racism, which is subtle just as often as it is overt.

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Lena – Married to Kevin. Lena is the grandniece of the matriarch of the Younger family. She grew up in the Clybourne Park neighborhood and has an emotional connection to it. She also has a political interest in the neighborhood, which she understands to be gentrifying as wealthier white families move in and displace middle-class black families. She hopes to be able to prevent Steve and Lindsey from changing the character of the historic house by renovating it.

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Jim / Tom – late 20’s, white, male

Jim – A local pastor and friend of the Stollers. He is an easygoing man, who genuinely wants to help his neighbors and community members in times of trouble. Although he is not a hardline segregationist like Karl, he espouses racist views such as a belief in certain immutable differences between the races and is nervous about the prospect of a black family moving into Clybourne Park.

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Tom – Tom is a lawyer working with Lena and Kevin on behalf of the Clybourne Park neighborhood. He is an efficient, practical man, good at his job, and it’s later revealed he’s also gay.

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Albert / Kevin – 30’s, black, male

Albert – Married to Francine. Albert is amiable and conscientious. He happily offers to help Bev move the footlocker and is confused by Francine’s resistance to staying at the Stollers’ home longer than necessary. He has a sharp sense of humor that’s mostly lost on the white residents of Clybourne Park, who react to his jokes uncomfortably.

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Kevin – Married to Lena. Although the couple occasionally bickers, he clearly loves his wife and rushes to her defense when she is insulted. Kevin is friendly and personable, with a good sense of humor, and tries his best to relate to Steve, Lindsey, and Kathy.

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Kenneth – white, male

Kenneth – Son of Russ and Bev Stoller. Kenneth is a veteran of the Korean War, during which he was charged with killing civilians. He has trouble reintegrating into society and passes two and half years before the events of Act I. Kenneth may be played by the same actor who plays Jim and Tom, or he might be played by an actor designated specifically for this role.