(Left to right) Director Sherman Wayne works with actors Phil Barthoff, Ruthenna Porterfield, Brooks Darnell, Matt Landis, Laura Goldstein, Yvonne Robertson and Larry Thaler.
‘Clybourne Park’ Opens Here April 5
Everyone is familiar with the saying “The show must go on,” so when Theatre Palisades director Tony Torrisi was hospitalized for persistent pneumonia midway through rehearsals for “Clybourne Park,” Sherman Wayne took over.
Wayne, 83, has been with Theatre Palisades for the past 15 years, and has won numerous awards for set design. For this production, initially he was in charge of the design and finding volunteers (five people are needed to transform the set at intermission from the 1950s to the 2000s)–and producing the show with Martha Hunter.
The play by Bruce Norris was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” In act one, set in 1959, nervous white community leaders are trying to stop the sale of a home to a black family.
In act two, set in 2009 in the same house, the now-predominantly African-American neighbors are battling to hold ground in the face of white gentrification.
The play features a complete scene change between acts, as the script tells the story of a neighborhood undergoing demographic change twice, first in the early 50’s and then again 50 years later.
To make the challenge even more difficult for Wayne, just two weeks before the show was scheduled to open, two actors withdrew from the Theatre Palisades production. Hunter and Wayne had to recast the roles.
Opening night for the Pulitzer-Prize-winning “Clybourne Park” was delayed a week, to Friday, April 5, for a five-week run through May 5. Purchase tickets before 6 p.m. on April 5 and you receive 30 percent off (use the code word PARK). Tickets are normally $22 for adults and seniors and students are $20.
Shows are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Call: (310) 454-1970 or visit: theatrepalisades.com.