In CLYDE’S, a stirring new play from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and her frequent collaborator, director Kate Whoriskey (Ruined, Sweat), a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s callous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich. You’ll want a seat at the table for this funny, moving, and urgent play. It’s an example of Nottage’s “genius for bringing politically charged themes to life by embodying them in ordinary characters living ordinary lives” (The Wall Street Journal).
The full creative team for Clyde’s includes scenic design by Takeshi Kata, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, sound design by Justin Ellington, original compositions by Justin Hicks and casting by The Telsey Office.
Clyde’s is supported by the Art for Justice Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and by Terry and Bob Lindsay, with additional support provided by American Express.
In fact, halfway through you might be struck by the notion of what an engaging sitcom this play could make, but then you might also realize that it already has. For all its present-day concerns, topicality and up-to-the-minute compassions, Clyde's is Taxi with poetic garnish. It's not hard to imagine Danny DeVito's Louie De Palma sharing tactical advice with Aduba's Clyde, or Judd Hirsch's Alex Reiger offering a sympathetic ear to Jones' Montrellous. Nottage has recast a winning recipe for the post-Trump era, and through sheer determination and heart keeps all but the very edges from a whiff of staleness.
Nottage's delightful new play, 'Clyde's,' which opened at the Helen Hayes Theater on Tuesday, dares to flip the paradigm. Though it's still about dark things, including prison, drugs, homelessness and poverty, it somehow turns them into bright comedy. In Kate Whoriskey's brisk and thoroughly satisfying production for Second Stage Theater, we learn that, unlike Oedipus and his mom, people who may have little else nevertheless have choices.
2021 | Broadway |
Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Play | Jennifer Moeller |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Ron Cephas Jones |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play | Christopher Akerlind |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design for a Play | Takeshi Kata |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Uzo Aduba |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Ron Cephas Jones |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Kate Whoriskey |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Clyde's |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Uzo Aduba |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Clyde's |
2022 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Kara Young |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Jennifer Moeller |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Ron Cephas Jones |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Uzo Aduba |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Kara Young |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Clyde's |
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