Review: Theatre UCF's CLYBOURNE PARK is Central Florida Theatre at its Best

Last year, Orlando's Mad Cow Theatre opened a powerful production of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play CLYBOURNE PARK, and while their version still holds up a year later, the environment in which we find ourselves in 2016 adds an extra level of resonance to Theatre UCF's production, currently running through October 2nd.

This top-notch production is both beautifully staged and designed, and the cast provides nuanced performances of a script that constantly reveals new layers to be analyzed. Theatre UCF's CLYBOURNE PARK is theatre, educational or otherwise, at its best.

By actor and playwright Bruce Norris, CLYBOURNE PARK is a loosely related sequel to Lorraine Hansberry's iconic 1959 work A RAISIN IN THE SUN. The first act of Norris' piece is contemporaneous with Hansberry's, while Act II takes place roughly present day.

Under the direction of faculty member David Reed, the play follows two separate stories about the selling of one house, generations apart. In the first act, Russ (Andy Hansen) and Bev (Amanda Dayton) are preparing to move out of their family home when they are forced to deal with the memories that the house brings up, as well as the implications that the impending sale has on their neighbors.

The second act centers on the value, financial or otherwise, that the home possesses for different people some 50-odd years in the future. Norris weaves elegant echoes from the first act throughout the second, subtly reminding the audience that true change is almost always a glacially slow process.

CLYBOURNE PARK has many important themes, from the impact of changes in a community to the need for forgiveness to mental health issues, but what stuck with me the most on this second viewing in 13 months is the importance of having difficult, uncomfortable conversations. Reed and his incredible cast of students bring to life the tediously painful process of discussing things that we would rather ignore; be it personal, racial, or anything else imaginable.

In today's environment, when it is far easier to unfriend or unfollow than to have a meaningful discussion, the ramifications of avoidance are less obvious than in decades past. However, in ways large and small, Norris reminds the audience how eye-opening and potentially lifesaving genuine communication can be.

The show's cast, playing different roles in each act, is uniformly wonderful. As Russ, Hansen provides the first act with bits of humor tinged with guilt and regret, all the while revealing the destructive ramifications of keeping rage and sadness inside. His performance is full of depth and pathos.

Though Dayton could have used a bit of a hair and makeup assist to help her appear old enough to play Bev, she was fantastic as the silently suffering wife forced by societal convention to sit idly by as her world comes crashing down. Her portrayal of the stereotypical housewife is subtly heartbreaking.

The knowing looks between Joshua Goodridge and Brianna Joseph's Albert and Francine are extremely funny in Act I, but it is in the second act as Kevin and Lena that they are able to peel back the layers of society's obsession with political correctness. In very different roles, Goodridge and Joseph hold a mirror up to the BS that is polite conversation.

Though they play a married couple expecting a child in both acts, the relationship between Austin Davis and Sydney Walker's characters could not be more different in each. In the first act, Davis plays the only cross-over character from A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Karl Linder.

As wonderful as the entire cast is, it is this pair that stole the show for me. From the recognizable, yet despicable Karl to the cluelessly politically correct Steve, Davis is fantastic as the friend or family member that you love, but wish would keep his mouth closed more often.

Walker, who plays Karl's deaf wife Betsy in the first act, is sensational as Steve's exacerbated wife Lindsay in the second. Much of the show's most salient commentary is delivered through humor, and Walker provides that wonderfully.

David Klein's portrayal of local pastor Jim in Act I hues a little too close to a cartoonish Ned Flanders, but he provides an important and necessary foil for Russ.

The exquisite design by Gary Alexander features a two-story, period-appropriate set, complete with '50's era wood paneling and "institutional Green" wallpaper. As is often the case, over the course of the decades, the home falls into disrepair. Watching the crew methodically destroy this home during intermission to a time-traveling soundtrack is about as much fun as you will see at a show between acts.

CLYBOURNE PARK does what only the best dramatic works can, it makes you examine your own life while laughing at the ones on stage. Though tickets are nearly sold-out, I cannot recommend the production highly enough. Visit Theatre UCF's website or call 407-823-1500 to claim some of the last tickets to CLYBOURNE PARK.

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Did you take a trip to CLYBOURNE PARK? What did you think? Let me know on Twitter @BWWMatt. And, "Like" and follow BWW Orlando on Facebook and Twitter using the buttons below. You can listen to Matt on BroadwayRadio or on BroadwayWorld's pop culture podcast Some Like it Pop.

Banner Image: CLYBOURNE PARK Cast. Photo Credit: Tony Firriolo | Theatre UCF

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