Arizona Theatre Company to Close Its Season With CLYBOURNE PARK

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) closes its 2012-2013 season with the eagerly anticipated Arizona premiere of Bruce Norris' multi-award-winning, provocative new comedy, "Clybourne Park." Performances will be held at The Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix May 2 through May 19, 2013. ATC season sponsors are I. Michael and Beth Kasser. Phoenix production sponsor is Zazu Pannee Park Regent.

"Clybourne Park" takes place in one Chicago home, spanning 50 years. Two vastly different generations of characters wrestle with the inherent issues that surface when facing the realities of social politics. Pitting race against real estate in two seminal events taking place five decades apart, a north Chicago home becomes a wildly hilarious and provoking battleground of race, real estate, and political correctness. Playwright Bruce Norris wrote "Clybourne Park" as a response to Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking 1959 play, "A Raisin in the Sun." It portrays fictional events set before and after Hansberry's play, exploring the neighborhood and house in which the central characters decide to movE. Norris' clever and biting, rapid-fire dialog brings "Clybourne Park" to vibrant life. Winning an almost unprecedented triple-crown, Norris' play won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play, as well as London's 2011 Olivier Award for Best Play. "Clybourne Park" is a co-production with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and is directed by its acclaimed Artistic Director, Mark Clements.

"When I first read the truly extraordinary "Clybourne Park" it knocked me off my feet. It confronts huge subjects: gentrification, race relations and political correctness, among others," said Director Mark Clements. "It's hard for any play to tackle any one of those things, but to take on so many and to take them on so brilliantly and fluidly without lecturing the audiences - while at the same time being hilariously funny - is an extraordinary feat. I've been looking forward to directing this modern masterpiece all season."

Bruce Norris (Playwright) is the author of "The Infidel" (2000), "Purple Heart" (2002), "We All Went Down to Amsterdam" (2003), "The Pain and the Itch" (2004), "The Unmentionables" (2006) and "A Parallelogram "(2010), all of which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. "Clybourne Park" premiered at Playwrights Horizons in February 2010 in a production that moved to Broadway. It won the 2010 Evening Standard Award for Best Play, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2011 Olivier Award. His work has also been seen at Lookingglass Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Staatstheater Mainz (Germany) and The Galway Festival (Ireland), among others. Also an accomplished actor, Mr. Norris's work can be seen in the films "A Civil Action," "The Sixth Sense" and "All Good Things".

Mark Clements (Director) is the Artistic Director of Milwaukee Repertory Theater. He is an award-winning international theater director whose work has appeared in over 100 major theaters throughout Europe and the United States. Recent productions include: "Assassins," "Othello," "Next to Normal," "Death of a Salesman," "Bombshells" and "Cabaret" at Milwaukee Repertory Theater; "Oliver!", "Born Yesterday," "Great Expectations", "Les Miserables" and "Of Mice and Men", all for Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia; "The Milliner" (Off-Broadway, World Premiere), CSC, New York; "My Fair Lady," "Copenhagen; "The Browning Version" at Derby Playhouse U.K.; and "Blunt Speaking" (World Premiere), Chichester Festival Theatre U.K. and Lucille Lortel Theatre, NewYork, both starring Corin Redgrave. Other productions include: "Speaking in Tongues" (U.S. Premiere) with Kevin Anderson and Karen Allen Roundabout Theatre Company; "Speaking in Tongues", Hampstead Theatre, London; Creator/Director - "Soul Train" (Laurence Olivier Award Nomination), West End and three U.K. national tours; and the U.K. national tours of "The Glass Menagerie," "The Gingerbread Lady" and "Love & Marriage, all for Bath Theatre Royal productions. Mr. Clements served as an Associate Artistic Director for New End Theatre and New Players Theatre, both in London, Royal Theatre in Northampton and Torch Theatre in Wales. Additionally, Mr. Clements served as Artistic Director of the award-winning Derby Playhouse in the U.K. from 1992 to 2002, where he produced over 100 productions and directed 47, including nine transfers to London's West End and many U.K. national tours and international collaborations with leading companies in the U.S.

The cast of "Clybourne Park" includes:

Lee E. Ernst (Russ / Dan) is delighted to return to Arizona Theatre Company where he last appeared as Frank Lloyd Wright in "Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright," for which he garnered an ariZoni Award for Leading Actor, and a Zoni nomination for Fight Choreography. Lee is an Associate Artist with Milwaukee Repertory Theater where he has played pivotal roles in over 100 productions, including the title characters in "Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright," "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure," "Barrymore," "Richard III," "The Foreigner," "Tartuffe," and "Lombardi." He has also worked with San Francisco's A.C.T., Kansas City Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Peninsula Players, Madison Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, New American Theatre, and Subaru Theater of Tokyo, Japan.

Anthony Fleming III (Albert / Kevin) whose off-Broadway credits include "Lookingglass Alice" at The New Victory Theater. Regional credits include "Fences" and "Jitney" (Court Theatre, Chicago); "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (Actors Theater of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory Theater); "Camino Real "(Goodman Theatre); "The Glass Menagerie" (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), "Denmark," "Free Man of Color" (Victory Gardens Theater); "The Arabian Nights," "Race," "Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting" (Lookingglass Theatre Company).

Marti Gobel (Francine / Lena) was recently seen at Milwaukee Rep in "A Christmas Carol" as Mrs. Cratchit and as Janet in the 2010 production of "Yankee Tavern." Ms. Gobel has also appeared with Milwaukee Shakespeare, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, FirstStage Children's Theatre, Forward Theater, UPROOTED Theatre and Optimist Theatre.

Grant Goodman (Jim / Tom) Off-Broadway credits include "Antony & Cleopatra," " The Merchant of Venice" (Theatre for a New Audience); "King Lear," " The Iliad" (Lincoln Center); "Richard II" (New York City Center/Pearl Theatre Company); and "Pericles" (Red Bull Theater). National Tours include "The Merchant of Venice" starring F. Murray Abraham. Regional credits include extensive work with Yale Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Old Globe, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Cincinnati Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival,Northlight Theatre, Court Theatre, Aquila Theatre Company, PlayMaker's Repertory Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey among many others.

Jenny McKnight (Bev / Kathy) has appeared at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in "In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play," "Ten Chimneys," "Speaking in Tongues" and "All My Sons." Chicago credits include "Talking Pictures" and "The Actor" (Goodman Theatre); "Pride and Prejudice" (Northlight Theatre); "Old Times" (Remy Bumppo); "Frozen," "The Laramie Project" and "The Incident" (Next Theatre); "Ariadne's Thread" (Victory Gardens); "Three Tall Women" (Apple Tree Theatre); multiple shows with Eclipse Theatre. Regionally, Ms. McKnight has appeared in "The House That Jack Built," "Crime and Punishment," "Pride and Prejudice," "Painting Churches" and "The Turn of the Screw" (Indiana Repertory Theatre); "Liliom" (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); and "Dusk Rings a Bell" (Mosaic Theatre).
Gerard Neugent (Karl / Steve) is an Associate Artist with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Recent roles include Doug Simon in "Gutenberg! The Musical!," Jacob Marley in "A Christmas Carol," Iago in "Othello," Hap in "Death of a Salesman," Stan Laurel in the American premiere of "Laurel and Hardy," Rick Steadman in "The Nerd," and Michael McCormick in "Lombardi." Mr. Neugent has also worked with Madison Repertory Theatre, American Players Theater, Next Act Theater and the Chamber Theater, among others.

Greta Wohlrabe (Betsy / Lindsey) has spent the past two seasons withAmerican Players Theatre appearing in "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Critic," "The Tempest," "Twelfth Night" (Maria)," Troilus and Cressida" (Cassandra), and "Skylight" (Kyra). She has also been seen as Claudia in "Honour" (Renaissance Theatreworks).

Taylor Rascher (Kenneth) is currently in his final semester at the University of Arizona. He was seen most recently in Arizona Repertory Theatre's "Cymbeline" as Caius Lucius. Past credits include: Phil in "Inspecting Carol," Cinna in "Julius Caesar," Simon Bliss in "Hay Fever," Lloyd Dallas in "Noises Off," Rick Taylor in "Bat Boy: The Musical," and Scripps in "The History Boys."

The design team of "Clybourne Park" includes:
Todd Edward Ivins (Scenic Designer) whose work includes: "Clybourne Park," "Assassins," "Othello," "Next to Normal," "Cabaret" (Milwaukee Rep); "Les Miserables," "Of Mice and Men," "Godspell," "Oliver," "Man of La Mancha," "Born Yesterday" (Walnut Street Theatre); "Into the Woods" (5th Avenue Theatre); "The Happy Time" (Signature Theatre); "Bright Lights, Big City," "Ain't Misbehavin," "Dreamgirls," "Hair," "Tiny Dancer" (Prince Music Theatre); "Camelot," "Rent" (Engeman Theatre); Rachel Anne Healy (Costume Designer) is based in Chicago, where her designs have been seen on numerous stages including Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writers Theatre, Chicago Children's Theatre, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, and Remy Bumppo Theatre. Regionally, she has designed with the ALLIANCE THEATRE, American Players Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre and Delaware TheatreCompany; Jesse Klug (Lighting Designer) designed the National Tour of "The Screwtape Letters." Off-Broadway credits include "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" (Second Stage, Hewes Nomination). Regional credits include Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Lookingglass Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Writers' Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Timeline Theatre, American Theatre Company, Fulton Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Chicago Dramatists;
Barry G. Funderburg (Sound Designer) previously designed "Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright" and "Blues for an Alabama Sky" for ATC. Off-Broadway, Barry recently designed the New York premiere of "Wittenberg" at The Pearl Theatre Company. Regional theatre credits include Steppenwolf Theatre, over 60 productions at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, CenterStage (Baltimore), Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Lookingglass.
Jill Walmsley Zager is the Dialect Coach, casting is by Sandy Ernst and the ATC artistic staff, and Glenn Bruner is the Production Stage Manager.

Arizona Theatre Company offers accessibility services for patrons with disabilities for select performances. Audio Description provides patrons with vision loss a running audio description of the movement and activities onstage through an infrared broadcast system. An Audio Describedperformance is offered on April 25 at 2:00 p.m. Interested patrons with vision loss may request a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. American Sign Language Interpretation is presented by professional, theatrically-trained ASL-interpreters for people who have deafness or hearing impairment. An ASL-interpreted performance is offered on April 25 at 7:30 p.m. Open-captioning allows patrons to read the play's dialogue on an LED screen as he play progresses. An open-captioned performance is offered on April 25 at 2:00 p.m. For open-captioned and ASL-interpreted performances, patrons should requestseats best suited to ASL interpretation or open-captioning when purchasing tickets. Large print and Braille playbills and infrared listening amplification devices are also available at every ATC performance with reservation. TTY access for the box office is available in Tucson at (520) 884-9723 or via the Arizona Relay at (800) 367-8939 (TTY/ASCII).

Tickets to "Clybourne Park" start at $32, are subject to change depending on time, date and section, and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the box office at (602) 256-6995. Discounts are available for seniors and active military. A $10 student ticket is now available for all performances. Half-price rush tickets are available for balcony seating for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC box office (subject to availability). For discounts for groups of 10 or more, call (602) 256-6995.
About Arizona Theatre Company

Touching lives through the power of theatre, Arizona Theatre Company (ATC), is the preeminent professional theatre in the state of Arizona. Boasting the largest seasonal subscriber base in the performing arts in Arizona, ATC is the only resident company in the US that reaps the benefits of a two-city operation. Now in its 46th season, more than 130,000 people ayear attend performances at the historic Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, and the intimate and elegant Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. Eachseason of shows reflect the rich variety of world drama-from classics to contemporary plays, from musicals to new works-along with a wide array of outreach programs, educational opportunities, access initiatives and new play programs. Mark Cole brings national arts management expertise to ATC as Managing Director, and twenty-one year veteran, David Ira Goldstein, continues to excel as ATC's Artistic Director.