Joshua Shepard takes the stage in production of 'Clybourne Park'

MILFORD — Joshua Shepard of Milford is performing in the Wilkes University Theatre's production of "Clybourne Park."
Shepard is playing the roles of Albert and Kevin in this play by Bruce Norris. It serves as a response to Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play "A Raisin in the Sun," about an African-American family aspiring to move beyond segregation with the purchase of their first home.
Norris sets the play as bookends to Hansberry's piece. The scenes are set 50 years apart and staged in the same bungalow in Chicago's northwest side.
In 1959, Russ and Bev are moving out to the suburbs after the death of their son, and sell their house to the neighborhood's first black family. Fifty years later, in 2009, a role reversal occurs when a young white couple buys the lot in what is now a predominantly black neighborhood, signaling a new wave of gentrification. In both instances, race is pitted against real estate with this home as the battleground.
The production will be performed at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, 239 South River St., Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 27, 28, and 29 at 8 p.m., with matinee performances on Sept. 29 and 30 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $10, general admission, and $5 for students and seniors. For more information call the box office at 570-408-4540 or visitwilkes.edu.