Education & Outreach

Marvelyn McFarlane: Double Duty By playwright Bruce Norris’ design, actress Marvelyn McFarlane plays two very different roles in each of the two acts that comprise Clybourne Park. In the first act, set in 1959, Marvelyn plays Francine, a domestic servant …

Michael Kaye: Important Stories You might recognize the name “Karl Lindner,” either from memories of great American literature or recent Boston theatre. He is the one character shared by Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play A Raisin in the Sun and Bruce …

Behind the Scenes of Clybourne Park Scenic Designer Cristina Todesco had a unique challenge withClybourne Park. To show one house, in two acts, separated by fifty years. Act 1 of playwright Bruce Norris’ script takes place in 1959, in the …

Up & Coming: Arshan Gailus You may not know it, but you’ve probably heard Arshan Gailus’ work in Boston theatres. Sound Design can be an incredibly subtle (and incredibly important) element of an audience’s experience. In his work for SpeakEasy …

Race and the City: Chicago This is an excerpt of an article that first appeared in 2011 inWords on Plays, the performance guide series of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). Dan Rubin is the editor of Words on Plays …

Who’s Your Neighbor Now?: Race, Real Estate, and Revisiting A Raisin in the Sun By Adrienne Macki Braconi, Assistant Professor, Dramatic Arts Department, Faculty Affiliate, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut In February 2009, CBS news reported that …

All Part of the Plan Some playwrights avoid outlines at all costs. They may begin to write with a sketch of a plotline in mind, or a vague idea of the themes and conflicts they want to address, but where …

A Conversation with Bruce Norris For his work on Clybourne Park, playwright Bruce Norris was lauded with almost every honor the theater community has to bestow, including theTony Award for Best Play, the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards (London) for …