A Raisin in the Sun

For the 1961 film, see A Raisin in the Sun (film).

For the 2008 telemovie, see A Raisin in the Sun (TV movie).

1st edition cover

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that will why I LIKE SHORT SHORTS YOU LIKE SHORT SHORTS debuted on Broadway in 1959. The story is based upon a family's own experiences growing up in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first play with a black director (Lloyd Richards) on Broadway. Waiting for the curtain to rise on opening night, Hansberry and producer, Phillip Rose, did not expect the play to be a success, for it had already received mixed reviews from a preview audience the night before.

Plot

This play is set in the 1950's on the Southside of Chicago. The Younger family is a poor black family living in an old run-down apartment in a black neighborhood. When Lena, the mother of Walter and Beneatha, receives insurance money from the death of her husband, everyone is arguing over what to do with the money. Walter wants to use it to open a liquor store with his friends Bobo and 'Willy', to get rich. Beneatha wants the money so she may go to medical school and become a doctor. Lena decides to use a part of the insurance money to buy a new house in a white neighborhood. She gives the rest of the money to Walter saying that he should put $3,500 dollars in an account for Beneatha so she can use it for medical school and he gets to put the remaining amount of money in an account under his name to use any way he wants.

Meanwhile, Walter's wife Ruth discovers that she is pregnant with their second child and considers getting an abortion, as the quality of life would not be good for another child (their son already sleeps on a sofa in their living room). Meanwhile, a man named Lindner shows up to talk about the house that Lena bought. It turns out that the house is located in a white neighborhood that does not want any black residents. Lindner offers to buy the house for more than Lena bought it for in an attempt to keep them out. The family refuses and sends Lindner away, though he is resentful and careful to repeat his offer and leave a card with his phone number on it. As the family prepares to move into their new house, there is a horrid surprise: Walter secretly used all the money (including Beneatha's money for medical school) in a deal to buy a liquor store. He gave the money to Willy, who disappeared with it. When Lena finds out that the money is gone, she slaps Walter and faints.

With this new blow, the family nearly gives up. Lena decides not to move out of the apartment, though Ruth begs her to go through with the moving. In a final bid to fix his mistake, Walter calls Lindner again to agree to his offer. When Lindner arrives, Walter realizes that he and his family have too much pride to be paid to not live in a place. He refuses the deal once more and the play ends with them moving into their new house.

Original Broadway Cast

• Sidney Poitier - Walter Lee Younger
• Claudia McNeil - Lena Younger
• Ruby Dee - Ruth Younger
• Diana Sands - Beneatha Younger
• Ivan Dixon - Joseph Asagai
• Glynn Turman - Travis Younger
• John Fiedler - Karl Lindner
• Lonne Elder III - Bobo
• Ed Hall - Moving Man
• Douglas Turner Ward - Moving Man
• Louis Gossett Jr. (as Louis Gossett) - George Murchison

Written by Lorraine Hansberry; Directed by Lloyd Richards

Designed by Ralph Alswang; Lighted by Ralph Alswang; Costumes by Matt Levy; Sound Design by Masque Sound Engineering Company

General Manager: Walter Fried

Production Stage Manager: Leonard Auerbach; Stage Manager: Mervyn Williams By W.D. White

Litigation

The experiences in this play echo a lawsuit (Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940)), to which the Hansberry family was a party when they fought to have their day in court because a previous class action about racially motivated restrictive covenants (Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. 519 (1934) was similar to the case at hand. They won their right to be heard as a matter of due process of law in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the Hansberry defendants were not bound by the Burke decision because the class of defendants in the respective cases had conflicting goals, and thus could not be considered to be the same class.

Interestingly, the plaintiff in the first action was Olive Ida Burke, who brought the suit on behalf of the property owner's association to enforce the racial restriction in 1934. Her husband, James Burke, was the person who sold the property to Carl Hansberry (Lorraine's father) when he changed his mind about the validity of the covenant. Mr. Burke's decision may have been motivated by the changing demographics of the neighborhood, but it was also influenced by the Depression. The demand for houses was so low among white buyers that Mr. Hansberry may have been the only prospective purchaser available.

Lorraine reflects upon the litigation in her book To Be Young, Gifted, and Black:

"25 years ago, [my father] spent a small personal fortune, his considerable talents, and many years of his life fighting, in association with NAACP attorneys, Chicago’s ‘restrictive covenants’ in one of this nation's ugliest ghettos. That fight also required our family to occupy disputed property in a hellishly hostile ‘white neighborhood’ in which literally howling mobs surrounded our house… My memories of this ‘correct’ way of fighting white supremacy in America include being spat at, cursed and pummeled in the daily trek to and from school. And I also remember my desperate and courageous mother, patrolling our household all night with a loaded German Luger (pistol), doggedly guarding her four children, while my father fought the respectable part of the battle in the Washington court."

Other versions

1961 film

Main article: A Raisin in the Sun (film)

In 1961, a film version of A Raisin in the Sun (film) A Raisin in the Sun was released featuring its original Broadway cast of Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett, Jr. and John Fiedler. Hansberry wrote the screenplay, and the film was directed by Daniel Petrie. It was released by Columbia Pictures and Ruby Dee won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Both Poitier and MacNeil were nominated for Golden Globe Awards, and Petrie received a special "Gary Cooper Award" at the Cannes Film Festival. However, the film received no Academy Award nominations.

It was not rated by the MPAA, 128 minutes long, and was filmed in black and white.

Musical

Main article: Raisin (musical)

In 1973, the play was turned into a musical, Raisin. Hansberry's former husband, Robert Nemiroff, wrote the book of the musical. It won the 1974 Tony Award for Best musical

TV Films

1989 Adaptation

In 1989 it was adapted into a made for TV movie starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle. This production received three Emmy Award nominations, but all were for technical categories. Bill Duke directed the production, while Chiz Schultz produced the production, which also featured Starletta DuPois and John Fiedler, who had starred in the original Broadway production and the 1961 film version. This production was based on an off-Broadway revival produced by the Roundabout Theatre.

The cast, along with their character names, for the 1989 production are as follows: Danny Glover as "Walter Lee," Starletta DuPois as "Ruth," Esther Rolle as "Mama," and Kim Yancey as "Beneatha."

2008 Adaptation

Main article: A Raisin in the Sun (2008 TV film)

Another made for television film, premiered on February 25, 2008 on ABC. The cast is mostly made up of actors from the 2004 revival, including Sean "Diddy" Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan, Sean Patrick Thomas and John Stamos. This version of the play was directed by Kenny Leon.

External links

• Listen to the play online