Clybourne Park Cast

A white man in his late forties. Russ is married to Bev, and is the father of Kenneth. At the beginning of the play he and Bev are preparing to move from their home in the neighborhood of Clybourne Park so he can be close to his new job. Although once a funny and social man, Russ has become depressed in the wake of his son’s suicide. He is withdrawn and uncommunicative, which worries and scares his wife. Although he argues against Karl and Jim’s segregationist dreams for Clybourne Park, it is unclear if he actually believes in integration, or simply does not care what happens to the neighborhood as long as he doesn’t have to stay. He is played by the same actor who plays Dan in Act II. A white man in his late forties. Dan is a contractor working for Steve and Lindsey, who is digging a trench in their backyard during the play’s second act. He’s well meaning but tactless, often interrupting emotionally charged conversations. Dan is played by the same actor who plays Russ in Act I.

A white woman in her forties. Bev is married to Russ, and is the mother of Kenneth. Bev is outgoing and peacemaking. She enjoys cultivating friendships in the neighborhood, and is disturbed by her husband’s social withdrawal. She criticizes Russ for his new cynical outlook on life, attempting to deal with her grief by putting on a happy face. However, she is clearly still devastated by the loss of her son, and her days are empty without him. Bev is open-minded about the idea of integration, and does her best to treat Francine, her black maid, with respect, but is still ignorant about racial and class differences, and can be unintentionally offensive. She is played by the same actor who plays Kathy in Act II. A white woman in her thirties. She is the daughter of Karl and Betsy, who moved out of Clybourne Park before Kathy was born. Kathy is working as a lawyer for Steve and Lindsey. Kathy is talkative, which is unfortunate as she is also clueless and frequently makes unintentionally offensive remarks. Unlike Tom, who is efficient and timely, she’s happy to let the conversation wander off track for minutes at a time. Kathy is played by the same actor who plays Bev in Act I.

A white man in his thirties. He is married to Betsy, and is the father of Kathy. Karl is the only character to appear onstage in both A Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park. He is the one to discover that the Younger family who has purchased Bev and Russ’s house is black, and he goes to their home to try and bribe them into giving up their new house, events which occur in Raisin and serve as a backstory for the plot of Clybourne. Karl is a doting, protective husband who so deeply cares about this wife’s wellbeing that his behavior toward her becomes patronizing. He likes to talk but hates to listen, and so arguments with him are aggravating for all parties involved. He is an aggressive opponent of integration in the neighborhood, and has come to Bev and Russ’s house in an attempt to convince them not to go through with the sale. Of all the characters that appears in the play, he is the most openly racist, although his racism is couched in genuine (if misguided) concern for his community. Karl is played by the same actor who plays Steve in Act II. A white man in his thirties. He is married to Lindsey, with whom he is expecting a child, and with whom he has purchased the house in Clybourne Park. Steve is outgoing and friendly, but he has no sense of what is and is not appropriate to say in public. As a middle class, or upper middle class white man, Steve is rarely marginalized and therefore rarely offended. As a result, he has difficulty imagining that other people could be offended by the things he says. Throughout the second act, he demonstrates very little empathy for those whose lives are different from his own. Steve is played by the same actor who plays Karl in Act I.

A white woman in her late twenties. She is married to Karl, and is the mother of Kathy. Betsy is pregnant, which causes Karl to treat her gently and carefully, both because of the pregnancy and because she had previously suffered a miscarriage. Betsy is deaf, but can read lips and communicate through sign language. She is able to speak, but it is sometimes difficult for the other characters to fully understand her. She is good-natured and seems to assume the best of the people around her. Betsy is played by the same actor who plays Lindsey in Act II. A white woman in her late twenties. Lindsey is married to Steve, and is visibly pregnant. She and Steve have purchased the house in Clybourne Park that Bev, Russ, and the Youngers used to live in, and have planned to extensively renovate the house. In her conversations with Lena, Kevin, Kathy, and Tom, Lindsey is bubbly and personable, always trying hard to make sure she is accommodating and inoffensive. She frequently expresses embarrassment at the tactlessness of her husband. In her private conversations with Steve, however, she is more assertive, and it is clear that many of the major decisions in their marriage—including the baby and the renovation of their new home—were her idea. Lindsey is played by the same actor who plays Betsy in Act I.

A black woman in her thirties. She is married to Albert, with whom she has three children. Francine works as a maid for Bev and Russ Stoller, and although she doesn’t seem to particularly like the couple, she is kind to Bev, whom she recognizes is often trying to connect with her. Francine is aware that she must remain quiet and respectful around the Stollers and their white neighbors if she wants to keep her job, but by the end of the first act she is clearly fed up with politely tolerating their racism, which is subtle just as often as it is overt. Francine is played by the same actor who plays Lena in Act II. A black woman in her thirties. She is married to Kevin, with whom she has three children. Lena is the grandniece of the matriarch of the Younger family, after whom she was named. Lena grew up in the Clybourne Park neighborhood and so has an emotional connection to it. She also has a political interest in the neighborhood, which she understands to be gentrifying as wealthier white families move in and displace middle-class black families. Therefore, she hopes to be able to prevent Steve and Lindsey from changing the character of the historic house by renovating it. Unlike Kevin, Lena is not interested in making friends with Steve, Lindsey, or Kathy. Instead, she hopes to communicate to them her deep concern for the Clybourne Park neighborhood and its history. Lena is played by the same actor who plays Francine in Act I.

A white man in his late twenties. Tom is likely related to Ted Driscoll, the realtor who sold Bev and Russ’s home to the Younger family. Tom is a lawyer working with Lena and Kevin on behalf of the Clybourne Park neighborhood. He is an efficient, practical man, and seems to be good at his job. His is gay, which he only shares near the end of Act II to explain to Steve why he was offended by his racist—and arguably homophobic—joke. Tom is played by the same actor who plays Jim in Act I. A black man in his thirties. He is married to Lena, with whom he has three children. Although the couple occasionally bickers, he clearly loves his wife and rushes to her defense when she is insulted. Kevin is friendly and personable, with a good sense of humor, and tries his best to relate to Steve, Lindsey, and Kathy, unlike Lena, who criticizes him for his affability. Kevin is played by the same actor who plays Albert in Act I.

A white man in his late twenties. Jim is a local pastor and friend of the Stollers. He has a wife, Judy, who never appears onstage. He is an easygoing man, who genuinely wants to help his neighbors and community members in times of trouble. Although he is not a hardline segregationist like Karl, he espouses racist views such as a belief in certain immutable differences between the races, and is nervous about the prospect of a black family moving into Clybourne Park. Jim is played by the same actor who plays Tom in Act II. A white man in his late twenties. Tom is likely related to Ted Driscoll, the realtor who sold Bev and Russ’s home to the Younger family. Tom is a lawyer working with Lena and Kevin on behalf of the Clybourne Park neighborhood. He is an efficient, practical man, and seems to be good at his job. His is gay, which he only shares near the end of Act II to explain to Steve why he was offended by his racist—and arguably homophobic—joke. Tom is played by the same actor who plays Jim in Act I.

A young white man and the son of Russ and Bev Stoller. Kenneth is a veteran of the Korean War, during which he was charged with killing civilians. After returning home, he had difficulty reintegrating into society, and killed himself two and a half years before the events of Act I take place. Although clearly unhappy and unstable, Bev remembers him as a thoughtful, if complicated boy, who simply needed people to take time to understand him. In some productions Kenneth is played by the same actor who plays Jim and Tom, but in other productions he is played by an actor employed specifically for this role.