Next production for Modesto's Prospect Theater bookends "Raisin in the Sun" story

A play that looks back and then moves forward comes to the Modesto stage next week.

The Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play “Clybourne Park” takes one well-known work and creates both a back story and continuation. Bruce Norris’ 2011 play takes the tale from “A Raisin in the Sun” and looks back on what led up to a house being available to that story's family. Then, Norris looks decades into the future to examine how lives and attitudes in America have changed.

Taking inspiration from Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play "A Raisin in the Sun", Norris creates a back story on why the house at the center of that tale becomes available to the African-American Younger family.

The multigenerational family lives in a cramped apartment in Chicago in Hansberry's work. When the patriarch dies they use his life insurance to buy a new home — but the only house in their price range is in Clybourne Park, an all-white neighborhood.

Norris' play is initially set in 1959 and examines why the house that ultimately is purchased by the Youngers becomes available. According to a press release from Prospect, Russ and Bev Stoller, a middle-aged white couple, is moving out of their Clybourne Street house due to a tragic incident that occurred there, causing them to sell far below market value.

"However, this sale has ruffled many feathers in the neighborhood, and Karl Linder makes a point of coming over to tell the Stollers just who they have agreed to sell the house to," the press release said. "This first act not only introduces us to the house that the Youngers will inherit, but also to the cracks that are beginning to show in the veneer of America’s Golden Age of the 1950’s. Social niceties fly out the window as characters antagonize one another and truths are exposed."

The second act of the play fast-forwards 50 years later when that same neighborhood has become predominately African-American.

"Gone are the characters from act one, although the actors remain the same, and gone are the racial tensions that existed in 1959, although we begin to see that those tensions simply morphed," the press release said. "What has remained are two key elements from act 1: once again, the house is up for sale, and once again, there is major disagreement about who should be allowed to move into it. Tensions soar, and claws come out as long-simmering frustrations are finally spoken."

Carin Heidelbach directs the Prospect production. Cast members include Belinda Maudlin (as Francine/Lena), Katherine Zagone (as Bev/Kathy), Andrew Burkum (as Russ/Dan), Adam Torrian (as Albert/Kevin), Jason Best (as Jim/Tom/Kenneth), Krista Joy Serpa (as Betsey/Lindsey) and Ryan Holloway (as Steve/Karl).

The play "has elements of comedy and deep emotions," according to Prospect, "but what makes it truly noteworthy is its unflinching look at some of the tough questions embedded in the 21st century American experience."

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Next production for Modesto's Prospect Theater bookends "Raisin in the Sun" story."