Broadway Production of Pulitzer Prize Winner Clybourne Park in Jeopardy

The planned Broadway mounting of 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner Clybourne Park has been cancelled by lead producer Scott Rudin, according to The New York Post. A spokesman for the Broadway publicity company Boneau/Bryan-Brown confirmed that “we are no longer involved with Clybourne Park,” which had announced an April 12 opening at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

The Post report explained that the play cancellation stemmed from a disagreement between Rudin and playwright Bruce Norris, who began his career as an actor. Norris had been set to play the older brother in Rudin’s forthcoming HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections but abruptly pulled out, saying, “I don’t like to do pilots.” Rudin responded by cancelling the Broadway transfer of Clybourne Park, now running at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles with its original seven-person cast.

Through his agent, Mary Harden, Norris issued the following statement: "Jonathan Franzen, Noah Baumbach and Scott Rudin are three of the most talented people working today, and I was honored to be considered for The Corrections, which I'm sure will be a fantastic and successful series. At this moment, however, I fell my priority needs to be writing rather than acting, and so I've declined, regretfully, to join them on the project. I wish all success to all the various parties involved and hope to cross paths with them again in the future." Norris' statement did not address the fate of Clybourne Park. 

An official list of Broadway producers was never released for Clybourne Park, though Rudin and Stuart Thompson, who withdrew their support on January 31, were set to lead the roster. There was no immediate word on whether Jujamcyn Theatres president Jordan Roth would step in and save the production at the Kerr. His mother, Daryl Roth, has produced a number of award-winning plays, including the 2011 Tony-honored revival of The Normal Heart.