As BroadwayWorld reported earlier today, lead producer Scott Rudin has backed out of producing the Broadway production of Bruce Norris's CLYBOURNE PARK, which was due for a Thursday, April 12th opening night at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
In a statement published by the New York Times, Rudin outlines the reasons behind the departure, saying: "Bruce Norris came in twice to audition for ‘The Corrections’ and subsequently spent many months negotiating every point in a four-year agreement to appear in the show.
"Mr. Norris called to tell me — after every issue had been resolved in his favor — that he had decided not to appear in the show, and had in fact during the negotiation made a series of what he termed more and more outrageous demands in the hope that we would turn him down, and that he would not have to face the responsibility of reneging on a commitment he made."
CLYBOURNE PARK had its Off-Broadway premiere at Playwrights Horizons and is currently playing in Los Angeles; it finishes its run there on February 26. Norris stated: "Jonathan Franzen, Noah Baumbach and Scott Rudin are three of the most talented people working today, and I was honored to be considered for ‘The Corrections,’ which I’m sure will be a fantastic and successful series. At this moment, however, I feel my priority needs to be writing rather than acting, and so I’ve declined, regretfully, to join them on the project. I wish all success to all the various parties involved and hope to cross paths with them again in the future."
In CLYBOURNE PARK, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize as well as the Olivier Award for Best New Play, Norris imagines the history of one of the more important houses in literary history, both before and after it becomes a focal point in Lorraine Hansberry’s classic "A Raisin in the Sun." In 1959, the house, which is located in a white neighborhood at 406 Clybourne St. in Chicago, is sold to an African-American family (the Younger family in “A Raisin in the Sun”). Then in 2009 after the neighborhood has changed into an African-American community, the house is sold to a white couple. It is through this prism of property ownership that Norris’ lacerating sense of humor dissects race relations and middle class hypocrisies in America.
Whether or not the play will continue to Broadway now remains unseen, but Rudin's statement went on to say that "I think he’s a wonderful playwright, and an equally wonderful actor, but I am unwilling to support or de facto condone this behavior and have decided not to proceed with ‘Clybourne Park,’ or ‘A Parallelogram,’ or with the production of a new play I commissioned from Mr. Norris. I look forward to seeing his next play as a member of the paying audience. ‘Clybourne Park’ is a fabulous play and I hope Bruce finds somebody else to produce it. I have encouraged our investors to stay with the play. It deserves to be seen on Broadway."
