The Raisin Cycle: Beneatha’s Place and Clybourne Park

April 10–June 16

The Raisin Cycle: Beneatha’s Place and Clybourne Park
Directed by Derrick Sanders
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
Beneatha's Place by Kwame Kwei-Armah

Two plays, one American story. Beneatha’s Place and Clybourne Park will be produced in rotating repertory as The Raisin Cycle, using a single company of actors and shared design team, under the direction of Derrick Sanders. In presenting Clybourne Park and Beneatha’s Place side by side, Baltimore Center Stage will explore with its audiences the monumental legacy of A Raisin in the Sun and, through the conversation among these plays, a range of perspectives on the state of race and class in our contemporary communities.

Learn More

View the Program via Issuu

Cast

Kim James Bey*
Auntie Fola

Eric L. Burton
Tunde

Jonathan Crombie*
Russ/Dan & Peter Nelson/Gary Jacobs

Jessica Frances Dukes*
Francine/Lena & Beneatha

Charlie Hudson, III*
Albert/Kevin & Joseph Asagai/Wale Oguns

Beth Hylton*
Bev/Kathy & Harriet Banks

Jacob H. Knoll*
Jim/Tom/Kenneth

James Ludwig*
Karl/Steve & Daniel Barnes/Mark Bond

Jenna Sokolowski*
Betsy/Lindsey & Mrs. Nelson

Baltimore Center Stage: Beneatha’s Place. Off Broadway—Second Stage: Zooman and the Sign (Grace); Actor’s Studio: Salt (dir. Loretta Greco); John Houseman Studio: The American Plan (Olivia), Can’t Go Nowhere With Ya (dir. Harold Scott); Mac Wellman’s Sincerity Forever (Jesus H. Christ). Regional—Delaware Theatre Company: Wake Up Lou Riser; Cleveland Play House: Quilters; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: Having our Say; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: Having Our Say; McCarter: Random Acts (dirs. Liz Diamond & Walter Dallas); Arena Stage: The Cherry Orchard (dir. Lucian Pintilie), Six Characters in Search of an Author (dir. Liviu Ciulei). Dialect Coach—Woolly Mammoth: The Convert; Arena Stage: Ruined, My Fair Lady, The Piano Lesson, Born Yesterday, Cuttin’ Up; Theatre J: In Darfur; Studio Theatre: Invisible Man, Passing Strange, In the Red and Brown Water. Professional—Chair, Department of Theatre Arts, Howard University; member, Voice and Speech Trainers, Certified Fitzmaurice Voicework.

Baltimore Center Stage: The Raisin Cycle. Broadway—The Drowsy Chaperone (also National Tour). Regional—Pittsburgh Public: Freud’s Last Session; Victoria Playhouse: For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again; Red Barn: The Glass Menagerie; McCarter: A Christmas Carol; Tarragon: Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion, The Dishwashers; Artword: This Could Be Love; Winter Garden/Fringe/TPM: The Drowsy Chaperone; CanStage: Arcadia, What the Butler Saw; Stratford Festival: Romeo & Juliet, Oedipus Rex, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet; New Vic: Godspell; Flatzbo: Heart Scars. Film/TV—credits include Cottage Country, Empty Room, Jane Show, Slings and Arrows, Power Play, Café Romeo, Mount Royal, Bullies, Anne of Green Gables series. Jonathan is a member of the award-winning sketch troupe “Skippy’s Rangers” and co-director of the upcoming documentary Waiting for Ishtar.

Baltimore Center Stage: Detroit ’67, Beneatha’s Place, Clybourne Park . Off-Broadway—Playwrights Horizons: Bootycandy (Obie Award). Regional—Arena Stage: King Hedley II, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Arden Theatre: Stick Fly; Geva Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson; Indiana Repertory: The Piano Lesson; Cleveland Playhouse: Trip to Bountiful; Woolly Mammoth Theatre (company member): Bootycandy, The Vibrator Play, Full Circle, Eclipsed, Fever/Dream, Antebellum (Helen Hayes ens/nom), Starving; Folger Theatre: The Conference of The Birds; Olney Theatre: The Piano Lesson; Studio Theatre: Passing Strange, Caroline, or Change; Round House Theatre: Trip to Bountiful, Permanent Collection; Ford’s Theatre: Jitney; Tribute Productions: Spunk (Helen Hayes Best Actress nom); Theater Alliance: The Bluest Eye, Insurrection: Holding History (Helen Hayes ens/nom) and more. TV—The Good Wife (CBS); A Raisin in the Sun Revisited (PBS); NBC Showcase Alumni (2015). Education—MFA from Catholic University.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. Off Broadway—Signature Theatre: Hurt Village; Irish Rep: White Woman Street; New Georges: Hillary; Classic Stage: Old Comedy; Ensemble Studio: Bike Wreck; NYSF/Delacorte: Mother Courage. Regional—Yale Rep: The Piano Lesson; Virginia Stage: Fences; Portland Stage: Master Harold & the Boys; Crossroads Theatre & Vineyard Playhouse: Fly; Williamstown Theatre Festival: Sweet Bird of Youth; Bread Loaf: Romeo & Juliet; Brown/Trinity: TopDog/Underdog, Julius Ceasar; Trinity Rep: A Raisin in the Sun, Richard III, A Christmas Carol, All the King’s Men, Cyrano de Bergerac. Film/TV—Criminal Justice [Pilot] (HBO), Rosa Parks Story (CBS), Unforgettable (CBS), Waterfront (CBS), Newlyweeds (Independent), Lillian (Independent). Education—MFA, Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium. The “Charlie Hudson, III Award” was established in his honor at undergraduate alma mater, Alabama State University. Charlie would like to thank God for this opportunity and his loving family for their support.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. New York—credits include NYC Fringe Fest, Todo Con Nada, Ground Floor Theatre Lab, among others. Regional—Everyman Theatre: resident company member, August: Osage County (Ivy), Time Stands Still (Sarah), All My Sons (Ann), Filthy Rich (Anne Scott), And a Nightingale Sang (Helen); Maltz Jupiter: The 39 Steps (The Woman); Delaware Theatre Company: Blithe Spirit (Elvira); Weston Playhouse: Death of a Salesman (Miss Forsythe); Public Theatre of Maine: On Golden Pond (Chelsea); Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre: House and Garden (JoAnna), Private Lives (Amanda), An Ideal Husband (Lady Chiltern); Gulfshore Playhouse: A Doll’s House (Nora), Life (x) 3 (Sonia), Blithe Spirit (Ruth); Olney Theatre Center: The Savannah Disputation (Melissa), The Heiress (Marian); PlayMakers Rep: Hay Fever (Sorel), The School For Wives (Georgette), Look Homeward, Angel (Laura); The Hipp: Suddenly Last Summer (Catherine), Up (Helen); Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy: Skylight (Kyra); Woolly Mammoth: Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis (Josie); Ford’s: The Heavens Are Hung In Black (Mrs Winston), Member of the Wedding (Janice); Kennedy Center: Mister Roberts (Lieutenant Girard). Education—MFA Acting; Professional Actor Training Program/UNC-Chapel Hill. Professional—Beth is the co-producer and co-founder of The Actors Salon.www.bethhylton.com

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. Broadway—Spamalot, Little Shop of Horrors. National Tours—101 Dalmatians. New York—York Theatre: Suburb, After the Fair; Playwrights Horizons: The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds her Chameleon Skin; Astor Place Theatre: Blue Man Group “Tubes”; Lamb’s Little Theatre: john & jen; Carnegie Hall: Louisiana Purchase, Ira Gershwin at 100, Very Warm for May. Regional—McCarter: A Christmas Carol, Night Governess; George St. Playhouse: God of Carnage, Ctrl+Alt+Delete; Theatre Aspen: Same Time, Next Year; Chapter Two; Arena Stage: A Man’s a Man; Ford’s Theatre: 1776, Kudzu; Goodspeed Opera House: They All Laughed; Cleveland Play House: The Emancipation of Valet du Chambre, Boy Meets Girl; Guthrie: Babes in Arms; Ramapo Shakespeare Ensemble: Hamlet; Great Lakes: Taming of the Shrew; Colorado Shakespeare Festival: The Rivals. Film/TV—Lipstick Jungle, Ghost Town, Finky’s Kitchen, The Chappelle Show, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, They Came to Cordura, All My Children, One Life to Live. Professional—Co-Producer/Co-Host—The Happy Hour Guys (happyhourguys.com). Proud member of Actor’s Equity. For KB.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. Regional—Woolly Mammoth: Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, Civilization, Antebellum, She Stoops to Comedy; The Hub Theatre: John & Beatrice; Olney Theatre: The Sound of Music, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Cinderella; Metro Stage: Savage in Limbo; Everyman Theatre: Pygmalion, Candida; Signature Theatre: [title of show], Urinetown (Helen Hayes Award Recipient, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical); Round House Theatre: Eurydice; Studio Theatre: Grey Gardens, Ivanov, Prometheus Bound; Folger Theatre: Clandestine Marriage; The Shakespeare Theatre: The Rivals. Education—BFA in Musical Theatre at Syracuse University.

Creative Team

Derrick Sanders
Director

Jack Magaw
Scenic Designer

Thom Weaver
Lighting Designer

Elisheba Ittoop
Sound Designer

Reggie Ray
Costume Designer

Gregory Bazemore
Hair and Wigs

Evamarii A. Johnson
Voice and Text

Gavin Witt
Production Dramaturg

Tara Rubin
Casting Director

Jeff Kirkman III
Assistant Director

Laura Smith*
Stage Manager

Caitlin Powers
Assistant Stage Manager

Captain Kate Murphy*
Assistant Stage Manager

Baltimore Center Stage: My America Too, Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Off Broadway—Signature: King Hedley II. Regional—Kennedy Center: August Wilson’s 20th Century Cycle: Seven Guitars, King Hedley II; Cincinnati Playhouse: Gee’s Bend (Acclaim Awards: Best Director, Outstanding Production); Virginia Stage Co: Fences, Radio Golf; Barebones: Jesus Hopped the A Train; Lincoln Center Theater: Sanctified; Chicago Children’s Theatre: Bud, Not Buddy, Jackie and Me (world premiere); American Theatre Co: Topdog/Underdog; True Colors: Jitney, Stick Fly; Minneapolis Children’s Theater: Five Fingers of Funk (world premiere); Congo Square: Elmina’s Kitchen (Midwest premiere); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Black Theatre Alliance Awards, Best Production and Direction); Seven Guitars (Jeff Awards, Best Production and Direction), Deep Azure (world premiere), The House That Jack Built, Ali (Black Theatre Alliance Award); Kuntu Rep: A Cryin’ Shame; ETA Creative Arts Theatre Co.: Why Black Men Play Basketball. Other Professional—Congo Square Founding Artistic Director; Assistant Director: Broadway/Goodman/Mark Taper/Huntington: Gem Ocean, and Broadway/Goodman: Radio Golf.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. Regional—design credits include Chicago Opera Theatre: The Scarlet Ibis, Arena Stage: Indecent; Goodman Theatre: Support Group for Men (world premiere); Geva Theatre: The Agitators, Other Than Honorable (both world premieres); Alliance Theatre: Sheltered (world premiere); American Players Theatre: A Flea in Her Ear; Steppenwolf Theatre: The Flick; Writers’ Theatre: Buried Child, East Texas Hot Links; Peninsula Players Theatre: The Bridges of Madison County, Miss Holmes; Court Theatre: Radio Golf, Long Day’s Journey into Night; Milwaukee Repertory Theatre: Man of La Mancha, The Mousetrap; Kansas City Rep: Of Mice and Men, Sweeney Todd. Awards—Eleven Joseph Jefferson Award nominations include designs for East Texas Hot Links (Writers’ Theatre) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (Court Theatre). Professional/Other—Jack lives in Chicago and teaches design at The Theatre School at DePaul University. www.jackmagaw.com

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Off Broadway—credits include York: Teller’s Play Dead, Thrill Me; Theatre Row: Two Rooms; Signature: King Hedley II; 37 ARTS: Frankenstein; DR2: Masked; as well as Lincoln Center Festival, Vital, SPF, NYMF, Lincoln Center Institute. Regional—Arden, Wilma, People’s Light, Walnut, PA Shakes, Theatre Exile, 1812, Azuka, New Paradise Laboratories, Curtis Opera, Flashpoint Theatre Company, where he is Artistic Director, Milwaukee Rep, Portland Center Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Cal Shakes, Asolo Rep, Theatre J, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Hangar Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, Folger, Round House, Williamstown, Spoleto, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Yale Rep. Awards— AUDELCO; 14 Barrymore nominations, winning in 2011 and 2012; and 3 Helen Hayes nominations. Education—Carnegie Mellon and Yale.

Elisheba Ittoop (Sound Design/Original Music) Her designs and original music have been heard at The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, New York Theatre Workshop, Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Soho Rep, Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre, Arena Stage, Alliance Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, National Gallery of Art, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Okeechobee Music Festival, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and others. She has produced podcasts and written music for NPR, CNN, Audible, WGBH, WFMT/Glimmerglass, Wondery, and others. Education: New York University, North Carolina School of the Arts. www.elishebaittoop.com

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place. Broadway— The Cort Theatre: Stick Fly. Off Broadway—Public Theater: Emergen-See; Signature Theatre: King Hedley II; Baruch Performing Arts Center: Actor’s Rap; Faison Firehouse Theatre: Accept/ Except. Tour/International— Monte Carlo: Peugeot: Les StarShow!; Le Place D’Arts, Montreal Canada: Beauty and the Beast; Toronto, Canada/USA: Virtuosity (w/ Vivian Reed); USA: Fabric of a Man (w/ Shemar Moore); Bible Stories, Men Cry in the Dark, Bubbling Brown Sugar (w/ Diahann Carroll). Regional— Arena Stage, Arizona Theatre Company, Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Dallas Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, The Goodman, Guthrie, Hartford Stage, The Huntington Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Theatre, St. Louis Black Rep., St. Louis Rep., Signature Theatre (DC), Studio Theatre, True Colors Theatre Company. Awards— 2 Helen Hayes Awards, Kevin Kline, Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. Professional— USA Local 829. Howard University DOTA Faculty.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place, Gleam. Regional—Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Eight seasons, credits include To Kill a Mockingbird, She Loves Me, Ruined, Death and the King’s Horseman, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Gem of the Ocean, Tracy’s Tiger, Intimate Apparel, Bus Stop, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Napoli Milionaria!, A Raisin in the Sun, Force of Nature, Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Dell’Arte International Theatre: Paradise Lost, The Iliad, Peer Gynt: The Liar/Logneren (in cooperation with Denmark’s Jomfru Ane Teatret); Illinois Shakespeare Festival: Henry V, Cymbeline, She Stoops to Conquer, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear; Philadelphia Theatre Company: The Mountaintop; New Harlem Arts Theatre (NYC): Flying Folktales. Other professional— Co-author of Page to Stage: Julius Caesar, which won the 1991 Wilbur Schramm Award for Outstanding Instructional Television Series. Teaching—Cal Arts, California State Summer School for the Arts, Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Cornell University, Illinois State University, Northwestern University, Semester at Sea (The Institute for Shipboard Education). Member— AEA, SAG, Canadian AEA, VASTA. Education— BFA, Howard University; post-graduate work, New York University; PhD, University of Washington.

Director of Dramaturgy and Associate Director Gavin Witt came to Baltimore Center Stage in 2003, after nearly 15 years in Chicago as an actor, director, dramaturg, translator, and teacher—and co-founder of the classically based greasy joan & co theater. Among his translations and adaptations are a half-dozen Shakespeare plays, including a Jeff-nominated version of Pericles and the BCS production of As You Like It; Jeff-nominated translations of Beaumarchais’ The Barber of Seville and Ionesco’s Macbett; and the BCS adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. A graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago, he is currently on the Humanities faculty at Peabody Conservatory, having previously taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul, and Towson; has served on the advisory boards of several theaters; and spent more than a decade as a regional vice president of LMDA, the national association of dramaturgs, before recently joining its board.

Baltimore Center Stage: Clybourne Park, Beneatha’s Place, An Enemy of the People, Into the Woods. Broadway—The Heiress, Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson, Ghost, One Man, Two Guvnors (US Casting), Jesus Christ Superstar (US Casting), Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, How to Succeed..; Promises, Promises, A Little Night Music, Billy Elliot, Shrek, Guys and Dolls, The Farnsworth Invention, …Young Frankenstein, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Pirate Queen, Les Misérables, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, …Spelling Bee, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Phantom of the Opera, Contact. Off Broadway— Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Old Jews Telling Jokes. Regional—Yale Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse.

Baltimore Center Stage: Detroit ’67, As You Like It; 4000 Miles; After the Revolution; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Amadeus; Wild with Happy; Twelfth Night; Stones in His Pockets; dance of the holy ghosts; Clybourne Park; Beneatha’s Place; The Mountaintop; Bus Stop; An Enemy of the People; The Whipping Man; Gleam; The Rivals; Snow Falling on Cedars; Cyrano; Working it Out; Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Regional—Shakespeare Theater Company: Salome; Contemporary American Theater Festival: World Builders; Everyman: Pygmalion, Shipwrecked, The Exonerated, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Gem of the Ocean, And a Nightingale Sang, The School for Scandal, A Number, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Yellowman; Woolly Mammoth: Gruesome Playground Injuries, House of Gold, The Unmentionables, Vigils, After Ashley; Folger: Measure for Measure, Olney Theatre: Stuff Happens; Theater Alliance: Headsman’s Holiday, Pangea.

Baltimore Center Stage: One Night in Miami…, Next to Normal, Animal Crackers, Mud Blue Sky, The Mountaintop, …Edgar Allan Poe, A Skull in Connemara, American Buffalo, Crime & Punishment, Let There Be Love, The Santaland Diaries, The Importance of Being Earnest, Things of Dry Hours, Trouble in Mind, Three Sisters, Radio Golf, The Murder of Isaac, Once on This Island, King Lear. Regional—Trinity Rep: Boeing-Boeing; Actors Theatre of Louisville: All Hail Hurricane Gordo*, The Clean House, Moot the Messenger*, Dracula, The Ruby Sunrise*, Tall Grass Gothic*, The Drawer Boy, Amadeus, As You Like It (*premieres at the Humana Festival of New American Plays); Contemporary American Theater Festival: The Overwhelming, Pig Farm; Totem Pole Playhouse: Over 75 productions through 13 summer stock seasons. Film/TV—Route 30, Route 30 Too!, The Father and the Bear, Next Food Network Star. Professional—Director of Stage Management at Virginia Tech University. Proud Actors Equity and ASCAP Member. For Whitney – with love and gratitude.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

In the Press

For all other press related information please go to our Press Room

Reviews

“Beneatha’s Place offers an earnest and piercing perspective on race at a time that theaters are eagerly seeking product with appeal to multi-racial auds.”— Variety

“Has [Kwame Kwei-Armah] pulled it off?? An enthusiastic YES!!!”— BroadwayWorld

“CENTERSTAGE has crafted a surprisingly original and thought-provoking response to Norris’ play.”— MD Theatre Guide

“If Beneatha’s Place were only about responding to Clybourne Park, it would have marginal interest. But the new work, neatly spiced with humor, irony and history lessons, has enough substance in its own right.”— The Baltimore Sun

“superb production… Don’t miss it”— DC Metro Theatre Arts

“A POTENT BALTIMORE PREMIERE… WONDERFULLY WICKED HUMOR”— THE BALTIMORE SUN

“ISN’T MERELY CLEVER—IT’S SMART… EXPLODES THE MODERN DAY HOT AIR BALLOON OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”— WYPR

“…THOUGHTFUL, BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED ADDITION TO THE LEGACY OF A RAISIN IN THE SUN.”— WYPR

“LET’S HOPE THAT OTHERS ADOPT [KWEI-ARMAH’S] IMPULSE TO KEEP THE TALK FLOWING”— THE WASHINGTON POST

In the News

05.02.13: The New York Times—For Sons of ‘Raisin,’ a Back-to-Back Duel
05.06.13: BBC Front Row—Kwame Kwei-Armah With Mark Lawson on Beneatha's Place
05.07.13: Bmore Media—New Centerstage play rewrites the script on race
04.05.13: The Washington Post—Hansberry’s long shadow in ‘Raisin Cycle’
05.12.13: The Baltimore Sun—Kwame Kwei-Armah keeps his vow to bring Center Stage national exposure
03.02.13: The Boston Globe—‘A Raisin in the Sun’ inspires spinoffs and debate

Learn More

Cast

Creative Team

In the Press

Reviews

In the News

Email Signup
Join Our Email List

Follow Us

Learn More

Share on

Cast

Creative Team

In the Press

Reviews

In the News