Overall pitch, Directors notebook

For this project I have chosen to work with the play Clybourne park (2009) by Bruce Norris.

The play takes place in the same house and the 2 acts are split up with the first act taking place in 1959 and the second act in 2009. The first act very much focused on how biased many in the white community at the time were against the black community. What interests me is Russ and Bevs son Kenneth who takes his own life after coming back from the Korean war, he is such an interesting character I feel and I really want to showcase him as being “better” than his parents in those few scenes that he has. And when we get any flashbacks of Kenneth I want him to be the most likeable person of all the characters. The Reason for this is because I want to throw in a little more connection between the audience and Russ & Bev. When Karl tries to convince Russ of not selling the house to a family just because they are black I want Russ to have multiple motives as to why he won't do what Karl says. And when he says that he won't “protect” a community that didn’t try to save his son I want it to be a really powerful moment. Then there is the racist aspects of the play, I want all of these to be highlighted but not as hate, as fear. Racism is just people being scared, and I want it to show. Characters that show themself to be very openly racist, the audience must be able to see through their “confident-hate” and see them for what they really are, scared. The second act is going to follow along with the same themes as the first act, I might still add a few more focal points after I have studied the script further and in more detail.