☞ SEE: Clybourne Park on Broadway

Clybourne Park on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre currently in previews, opening April 19th, 219 West 48th Street.  Imagine a play that covers a historic townhouse neighborhood in transition from a white middle class enclave to a struggling African-American community and then gentrifying to a diverse neighborhood decades later. We were lucky enough to catch the preview of the new Broadway run of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning Play called Clybourne Park which is set in Chicago but could easily be called Mount Morris Park or Morningside Park in Harlem.  One of the key points about this play is that it stands out amongst others because of its full discussion on the gentrification process from the beginnings of a landmark neighborhood to the current times of transition.

The Bruce Norris black comedy was written as a response to Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun and moves fluidly between the two acts set 50 years apart that focuses on gentrification, class and race. Act One takes place in 1959, as nervous 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.

Harlem Bespoke readers can submit Instagram photos that "capture the heart of the neighborhood" and get a chance to win two tickets for the opening night of Clybourne Park by applying online: LINK.  Check out more details on the play and buy tickets for the 16 week run of Clybourne Park on line at the official website: ClybournePark.com