Alley Theatre Opens CLYBOURNE PARK, Opening 1/23

The Alley Theatre's production of Houston native Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play, and the Olivier Award for Best Play (London) starts on the Alley Theatre's Neuhaus Stage January 18 and opens Wednesday, January 23. Clybourne Park is directed by Alley Theater Associate Director James Black.

Bruce Norris' powerfully provocative play is the most talked-about show of the 2012 Broadway season and "the funniest play of the year" (London Evening Standard). It has been called "a spiky and insightful new comedy" (The New York Times) "completely audacious, ingenious entertainment" (Entertainment Weekly), and "superb, elegantly written, and hilarious" (The New Yorker).

Clybourne Park spans two generations fifty years apart. In 1959, Russ and Bev are selling their desirable two-bedroom at a bargain price, unknowingly bringing the first black family into the neighborhood and creating ripples of discontent among the cozy white residents of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by a young white couple, whose plan to raze the house and start again is met with equal disapproval by the black residents of the soon-to-be-gentrified area. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same, fifty years on? Bruce Norris's excruciatingly funny and squirm-inducing satire explores the fault line between race and property. Recommended for mature audiences due to racially charged language.

The cast of Clybourne Park features Alley Theatre Resident Company Members Jeffrey Bean as Russ/Dan, Elizabeth Bunch as Bev/Kathy, Emily Neves as Betsy/Lindsey, David Rainey as Albert/Kevin and Jay Sullivan as Jim/Tom/Kenneth. Alley veteran Philip Lehl returns as Karl/Steve and Libya V. Pugh will make her Alley debut.

Clybourne Park features scenic design by Kevin Rigdon and costume design by Janice Pytel. Lighting design is by John Ambrosone with sound design by Pierre Dupree and Dramaturg Jacey Little.

Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris and directed by James Black, begins performances Friday, January 18, opens officially Wednesday, January 23, and runs through Sunday, February 17, 2013 on the Neuhaus Stage.