--- title: Blackface ‘Clybourne Park’ Production Cancelled in Berlin description: The Bruce Norris satire Clybourne Park, a Chicago-set play inspired by A Raisin in the Sun, has garnered raves and awards for productions in the... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7120919/blackface-clybourne-park-production-cancelled-in-berlin/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-10-18T17:07:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:58:06.232Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Blackface 'Clybourne Park' Production Cancelled in Berlin og:description: Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris has withdrawn performance rights for the racial-dynamics drama og:url: https://time.com/archive/7120919/blackface-clybourne-park-production-cancelled-in-berlin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd5021a85401ee7/698a8f84cabb1d4ec3e59e33/clybourne-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Clybourne Park og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Blackface 'Clybourne Park' Production Cancelled in Berlin twitter:description: Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris has withdrawn performance rights for the racial-dynamics drama twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd5021a85401ee7/698a8f84cabb1d4ec3e59e33/clybourne-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # Blackface 'Clybourne Park' Production Cancelled in Berlin > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 18, 2012 5:07 PM UTC  Damon Gupton, Annie Parisse, Crystal A. Dickinson, and Jeremy Shamos star in a scene from "Clybourne Park," at the Walter Kerr Theatre, in New York. Damon Gupton, Annie Parisse, Crystal A. Dickinson, and Jeremy Shamos star in a scene from "Clybourne Park," at the Walter Kerr Theatre, in New York. Nathan Johnson Photography / The O+M Co. / AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 18, 2012 5:07 PM UTC The Bruce Norris satire _Clybourne Park_, a Chicago-set play inspired by _A Raisin in_ [_the Sun_](http://topics.time.com/the-sun/), has garnered raves and awards for productions in the U.S. (a Pulitzer and a Tony) and England (an Olivier)—but a planned production in Berlin has been canceled. Norris learned that one of the African-American characters in the play about race relations and class would be portrayed by a white German actor in blackface. In response, he withdrew permission for the Deutsches Theatre to do the show. (**MORE**: [TIME’s review of ](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/04/24/low-comedy-high-concept/)[_Clybourne Park_](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/04/24/low-comedy-high-concept/)) In an [open letter](http://www.dramatistsguild.com/eventseducation/latestmedia.aspx) to the members of the Dramatists Guild, a professional association of playwrights, Norris explained his decision. Having seen a 2011 German production of _Clybourne Park_ in the city of Mainz, the author says that he looked forward to the play moving to the “somewhat prestigious theatre of good reputation” in Berlin—until he heard directly from the actress Lara-Sophie Milagro, who is black and appeared in the Mainz production, that her replacement in Berlin would be white. He contacted the management of the Deutsches Theatre: --- > “” --- Norris goes on to explain that the discriminatory use of blackface, while no longer considered acceptable in most American and British theaters ([except a few operas](http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/david-lister-if-its-wrong-to-black-up-for-othello-in-a-play-its-just-as-bad-in-an-opera-7917440.html) and in cases of commentary on the practice, [like the _Scottsboro Boys_ musical](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/scottsboro-boys-is-focus-of-protest/)), is common practice in German theater. Black German actors, he says, are underemployed and passed over for roles specifically intended for them—and the practice of race-blind casting does not work the other way, allowing them to perform in roles intended for actors of other races. He calls for his fellow playwrights to boycott German theaters who do not ban the practice, and links to a petition against blackface that was co-started by Lara-Sophie Milagro. (**MORE**: [Broadway Revivals: Why I Hate _Hamlet_ — and _Cyrano_ Too](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/10/17/broadway-revivals-why-i-hate-hamlet-and-cyrano-too)) This is the second blackface controversy to roil the German theater world this year. A Schlosspark Theatre production of _I’m Not Rappaport_, Herb Gardner’s play about the relationship between a Jewish man and a black man, also used white actors for both roles. In an interview with _Vice_, Tahir Della, an advocate for black Germans, [said](http://www.vice.com/read/blackface-is-the-new-black) that though casting directors for _I’m Not Rappaport_ did look at “tons” of actors from the Berlin-based black theater group Label Noir, she found it “impossible” that no black actors were appropriate for the parts. Della also told _Vice_ that claims that blackface is not racist are an attempt to seize the conversation by redefining racism. The production of _I’m Not Rappaport_, however, went forward as planned; the director [told](http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120106-39967.html) English-language German publication _The Local_ that blackface was just a “theater tradition that was never intended to be racist.” A similar controversy emerged last fall, when a white German comedian wore blackface to pose as President Obama in an ad for a satirical political party. The comedian, Martin Sonneborn, [said](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038301/German-comedian-Martin-Sonneborns-blackface-Obama-billboard-causes-outrage.html) that he was unaware of why blackface might be seen as racist and refused to take down the billboard. While the use of blackface remains problematic in [Germany](http://topics.time.com/germany/), blind acceptance is not universal. On Oct. 16, the very day Norris published his letter to the Dramatists Guild, a symposium was scheduled to begin at Berlin’s International Research Center called “Blackface, Whiteness and the Power of Definition in German Contemporary Theater”—including a discussion of a Feb. 12, 2012, audience walk-out, planned by the group Bühnenwatch (“stagewatch”) at a German production that used blackface. That production, of the play _Unschuld_, was at the very theater where _Clybourne Park_ was to be produced. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120919/blackface-clybourne-park-production-cancelled-in-berlin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120919/blackface-clybourne-park-production-cancelled-in-berlin/"},"headline":"Blackface 'Clybourne Park' Production Cancelled in Berlin","datePublished":"2012-10-18T17:07:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:58:06.232Z","description":"The Bruce Norris satire Clybourne Park, a Chicago-set play inspired by A Raisin in the Sun, has garnered raves and awards for productions in the...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7120919/blackface-clybourne-park-production-cancelled-in-berlin/","keywords":["Racism","Berlin","Theater"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd5021a85401ee7/698a8f84cabb1d4ec3e59e33/clybourne-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd5021a85401ee7/698a8f84cabb1d4ec3e59e33/clybourne-park.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clybourne Park","caption":"Damon Gupton, Annie Parisse, Crystal A. 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