Production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Clybourne Park " highlights generational racism

Sequels tend to answer the questions for audiences who want to know what happened after the last scene ends in print or on the screen.

But, most sequels are not as unorthodox as “Clybourne Park.”

Written 50 years after “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Clybourne Park” fills in what happened while the Youngers were planning to buy the house at 406 Clybourne St.

The second act fast forwards 50 years into the future and telling the story of a white family now wanting to move into the predominantly black neighborhood.

Pierce’s rendition of the play is directed by Esdras Toussaint. This is his first play at Pierce, but has worked on other productions outside of the campus.

Toussaint said the play may be almost 10 years old, but it still has importance today.

“The play is about the conversations that we've been having for a very long time when it comes to a race and real estate in the U.S.,” Toussaint said.

It takes place in 1959 and shows what happens after the white neighbor spoke to the black family, the Youngers, in “A Raisin in the Sun.” It then jumps 50 years to 2009 and the neighborhood is black and a white family now wants to move in.

Toussaint said it was important to stay true to cast dynamics of the play because of the storyline.

There are seven actors playing two roles each. One role for each act.

One actor has a third role as well.

“I was able to cast exactly what the play needed,” Toussaint said.

It took weeks to get all the actors he wanted, but in the end, only two came from outside of the school.

Matt DeHaven plays Russ in the first act and Dan in the second act. He worked in four other productions in the past, but has never been an official student at Pierce.

DeHaven said his character in the first act has pressure placed on him and he has to make a decision.

“I'm playing Russ in the year 1959. I’m selling my house,” DeHaven said. “Apparently, this is a very white neighborhood of Chicago and they've been very exclusively white and he by accident, sells the house to the first black couple.”

Michael Sande, theatre manager, said the play wasn’t set as the finale of the season on purpose, but it was a good way to end.

Preview: Club plants tree in remembrance

ASA memorializes the Armenian Genocide

RANDI LOVE Editor-in-Chief @RandiLove_29

A pomegranate tree in the Armenian culture symbolizes good fortune and prosperity.

Now this beacon of hope will extend its branches into the fabric of this campus to create a strong sense of community by planting deep roots of identity.

On Friday, April 27, the Armenian Students’ Association (ASA) is hosting an event to commemorate the Armenian genocide and provide information to try to prevent similar situations from occuring again, but also bring awareness to their culture.

Raffi Kahwajian, program specialist, said the main portion of the event is a tree planting and it was a part of a bigger discussion the advisors and support system of the club having been having for at least a year.

Kahwajian said that the most important piece of the event is to start a conversation among people on campus.

department chair of communication studies, are the co-advisors of the ASA. While Kahwajian and Nune Mikayelyan, senior secretary of student success, also lend a hand, but have more of a faculty input.

Mikayelyan said she hasn’t worked at Pierce two years yet, but she realized there is a prominent Armenian identity on campus. She said the advisors wanted to allow the students the opportunity to revive a defunct club.

“We made sure to incorporate diversity and inclusion in the mission statement of the ASA. It's not limited to any cultural origin, it's just very inclusive in terms of who could join and who can participate.” Mikayelyan said.

Kahwajian said the event is important to their culture, but also the the ASA.

“Everything about us is student driven, Nune is that type of person. Yeprem and Eddie are all about students. I myself try to collaborate and just push supporting students as much as I can.” Kahwajian said.

“I think it is a good season closer because it's really rich play. It's got a lot of depth and meaning to it, yet the audiences are going to be extremely entertained as well,” Sande said. “Also, on the heels of blood wedding, which was a tragedy, you want to follow that up with something a little less heavy.” rlove.roundupnews@gmail.com

The play premieres on Friday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Building Mainstage Theatre.

“The more we do that, share our stories and listen respectfully to others, we'll just have a better understanding for the human condition,” Kahwajian said. “We'll see how we all have commonalities. We are linked with similar struggles in both good times and bad times. Whether it's historically or just what makes us who we are as human beings.”

Edouard Tchertchian, professor of math, and Yeprem Davoodian,

The ASA will be planting a pomegranate tree because it is important to the Armenian identity.

“We chose that tree because it has some cultural significance. It shows up often in music and art for centuries,” Kahwajian said. “It represents prosperity, abundance, fertility. Sometimes it's used in connection with like a wedding or wedding ceremony.”

ROUNDUP: April 25, 2018