The University of Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players (REP) continues its 2016-17 season with Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, the acerbically funny and audacious play that tackles both sides of the perpetually-timely issues of race, real estate and gentrification.

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Broadway’s Tony Award for Best Play and London’s Olivier Award for Best New Play, Clybourne Park has become the provocative “must see” in every city where it’s been staged.

The REP will present this social satire Nov. 10 through Dec. 4 in the Thompson Theatre of UD’s Roselle Center for the Arts.

Called “pulverizingly funny” and “offensively delicious and combustible” by the press, Clybourne Park uses the classic drama A Raisin in the Sun as a jumping-off point to examine how we look at, and talk around, button-pushing topics.

The first act of Clybourne Park is set in 1959 where a white couple has unknowingly sold their home to a black family, causing an uproar in their all-white neighborhood. The second act fast forwards to 2009 when a young white couple buys the exact same house with plans to rebuild and gentrify their piece of the predominantly black neighborhood.

“Norris takes the premise of Raisin in the Sun, weaves in his own characters with their quirks and prejudices, and then flips it on its head in Act Two,” says director Lee E. Ernst. “His social satire looks at ‘home’ and ‘community’ with a sharp eye and biting humor and creates a piece that is richly comic and unexpectedly moving.”

New REP company actor, Hassan El-Amin, adds, “Bruce Norris is pushing a button here. His humor helps soften the subject matter, and that laughter both serves as protection from a volatile topic and highlights the absurdity of some of the ridiculous things the characters say. I think the play reflects on how far this country has come, or not come, on these prevalent issues that are still a hugely important part of the fabric of this country.”

Schedule and tickets

Clybourne Park begins previews on Thursday, Nov. 10, opens to the press on Saturday, Nov. 12, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 4.

Single tickets are $24-$30, with discounts available for senior adults, full-time students, members of the military, and groups of 15 or more. For tickets, call the REP box office at 302-831-2204, visit the website, or visit the box office in the Roselle Center for the Arts, 110 Orchard Rd, Newark, Delaware.

A convenient parking garage is attached to the Roselle Center.

A complete schedule, directions, and information on purchasing tickets can be found at the website or by calling the REP box office at 302-831-2204.

The REP’s performances are sponsored in part by the Delaware Division of the Arts.

Special events

Talkback’s with the cast take place following the performances on Thursday, Nov. 17 and Friday, Dec. 2.

Free pre-performance “Prologues” will take place beginning at 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 13, 19 and 20 and Dec. 3 and 4. Clybourne Park’s director, Lee Ernst, REP actor Hassan El-Amin, and John Ernest, professor and chair of UD’sDepartment of English and co-editor of Regenerations: African American Literature and Culture, will each lead separate Prologues.

A special panel discussion will follow the evening performance on Thursday, Dec. 1. Joining members of the cast of Clybourne Park will be Ann M. Aviles, assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies; James M. Jones, professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of the Center for the Study of Diversity; Julie L. McGee, associate professor in Black American studies and art history; and Leland Ware, associate director of the School of Public Policy and Administration and the Louis L. Redding Chair and Professor for the Study of Law and Public Policy.

The panel will discuss topics raised in the play such as urban displacement, gentrification, and race relations in our current economic climate. This event is free and open to the public.

About the REP

The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware.

The REP’s mission is to engage audiences throughout the tri-state region with frequent productions of outstanding classic, modern, and contemporary plays performed in a wide variety of styles that celebrate and demonstrate the range and breadth of each resident actor in this ensemble of nationally respected stage actors who have been trained in the same way.

The REP is committed to create future audiences for live theatre by offering its productions at low prices that enable and encourage the attendance of everyone in the region, regardless of income.