Notre Dame College and Ensemble Theatre launch their partnership with a production that takes a satirical look at housing discrimination, racism and assimilation.
The opening production, “Clybourne Park,” which is based on Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” starts Friday, September 23, and continues through Sunday, October 9. Performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center on the ground floor of the Administration Building at Notre Dame. Enter campus at 1857 South Green Road in South Euclid.
The partners offers “pay what you can” admission on Sundays, September 25 and October 9. The Sunday, October 2, matinee is already sold out. Regular admission is $15 to $32. Notre Dame faculty and staff tickets are $15, and the cost for students is only $8.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the College also has 50 free tickets available for this opening production. Notre Dame is among the most diverse colleges in Ohio.
“Clybourne Park” is a winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play, It is a sharp satire about the politics of race. The production contains strong language and themes.
In response to Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” playwright Bruce Norris set up Clybourne Park as a pair of scenes that bookend Hansberry’s piece. Act One takes place in 1959, as white community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.
“Clybourne Park” is directed by Celeste Cosentino, the director of theatre studies at Notre Dame and director of Ensemble Theatre.
Ensemble is a professional theatre company. “Clybourne Park” features Cleveland actors Brian Pedaci, Mary Werntz, Jailyn Sherell Harris, Christian Achkar, Nnamdi Okpala, Dan Zalevsky and Hannah Storch.
Support is provided by the Cleveland Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council and Notre Dame.
September 2022
About Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts college in South Euclid, Ohio, committed to teaching students how to make a good living and live a good life. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922, the College offers bachelor’s degrees in 30 disciplines plus a variety of master’s degrees, certification programs and continuing and professional development programs for adult learners on campus and online. For more information, visit NotreDameCollege.edu.