Producing the Play

The Shubert Organization
Ethel Barrymore Theatre and Belasco Theatre
New York City, NY
Opening-March 11, 1959
Closing-June 25, 1960

Directed: Lloyd Richards
Designed: Ralph Alswang
Costumes: Virginia Volland
Lighted: Ralph Alswang
Sound Design: Masque Sound Engineering Company

Cast:
Sidney Poitier-Walter Lee Younger (Brother)
Ruby Dee-Ruth Younger
Glynn Turman-Travis Younger
Diana Sands-Beneatha Younger
Claudia McNeil-Lena Younger (Mother)
Ivan Dixon-Joseph Asagai
Louis Gossett-George Murchison
John Fiedler-Karl Lindner
Lonne Elder III-Bobo
Douglas Turner, Ed Hall-Moving Men

Reviews
But she has not tipped her play to prove one thing or another. The play is honest. She has told the inner as well as the outer truth about a Negro family in the south-side of Chicago at the present time. Since the performance is also honest and since Sidney Poitier is a candid actor, A Raisin in the Sun has vigor as well as veracity and is likely to destroy the complacency of any one who sees it.

What the situations are does not matter at the moment. For A Raisin in the Sun is a play about human beings who want, on the one hand, to preserve their family pride and, on the other hand, to break out of the poverty that seems to be their fate. Not having any axe to grind, Miss Hansberry has a wide range of topics to write about-some of them hilarious, some of them painful in the extreme.

You might, in fact, regard A Raisin in the Sun as a Negro The Cherry Orchard. Although the social scale of the characters is different, the knowledge of how character is controlled by environment is much the same, and the alternation of humor and pathos is similar.
http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?id=1077011428967&html_title=&tols_title=&byline=&fid=NONE

The Shubert Organization
Royale Theatre
New York City, NY
Opening-April 26, 2004
Closing-July 11, 2004

Directed: Kenny Leon
Set design: Thomas Lynch
Costume design: Paul Tazewell
Lighting design: Brian MacDevitt
Sound design:T. Richard Fitzgerald
Composer: Dwight Andrews



Cast:
Walter Lee Younger-Sean Combs
Ruth Younger-Audra McDonald
Travis Younger-Alexander Mitchell
Lena Younger (Mama)-Phylicia Rashad
Beneatha Younger-Sanaa Latahn
Joseph Asagai-Teagle F. Bougere
George Murchinson-Frank Harts
Bobo-Bill Nunn
Karl Lindner-David Aaron Baker
Moving Men-Lawrence Ballard, Billy Eugene Jones

Reviews
''Raisin in the Sun'' depicts Walter Lee's belated emergence into manhood. And in his opening scene -- as he pouts and teases with his wife, Ruth (Ms. McDonald) -- Mr. Combs's Walter evokes a man who in his 30's is still marooned in early adolescence. You might even mistake this Walter for the older brother of Travis (Alexander Mitchell), the little boy who is in fact his son. Clearly, Mr. Combs has left lots of space for Walter to grow. Unfortunately, that space is never filled.

This omission makes the revival a lopsided and ultimately dreary affair. Though the production features sterling work from Ms. McDonald and Ms. Rashad, who plays Walter Lee's formidable mother, it lacks the fully developed central performance from Mr. Combs that would hold the show together. This Walter Lee never appears to change, in big ways or small. Happy or sad, drunk or sober, angry or placating, his evenly measured words and debating team captain's gestures remain pretty much the same.

This is a significant problem, since Walter Lee is meant to represent a new generational spirit among African-Americans in a time of social transition. And neither Mr. Combs nor the exceptionally pretty Sanaa Lathan -- as Walter Lee's ambitious sister, Beneatha, who is studying to be a doctor -- makes an argument for this generation as one to pin your hopes on.

From beginning to end, they register as petulant, spoiled overgrown children with none of the complexity of the maternal figures played by Ms. McDonald and Ms. Rashad. This ''Raisin'' is all about the kids versus the grown-ups, and not in the sense that Hansberry meant it. Instead of contrasting the forces of conservative, God-fearing womanhood with a fresh revolutionary spirit, the show becomes an ungainly counterpoint of mature and callow acting styles.
http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9e02e6d7103af934a15757c0a9629c8b63&scp=9&sq=a%20raisin%20in%20the%20sun%20hansberry&st=cse

Then there's Combs, a music star who has appeared in a couple of movies but has no real stage experience. It shows. He has a tendency to act by protruding his lips, but seldom does much with the rest of his face, body, or voice. More importantly, he doesn't have a firm grasp on Walter's dreams; a major part of the plot concerns Walter's desire to buy a liquor store, but his emotional state doesn't seem to change whether he just desires it, sees the opportunity slip away, or experiences the final result of his attempts. The rest of Walter's major moments receive similarly ineffective treatment.

It can't be easy for Combs to share the stage with his three extraordinary co-stars, and he deserves a great amount of respect for being willing to take on such a challenging role. But Combs's work is so unconvincing and his Walter so unspecific, he seems like a bystander rather than active participant in the action. During his scenes with Lathan, McDonald, and Rashad, he looks and sounds completely out of his element.

During these times - and when Combs is not onstage - the lead women's talents keep the play soaring higher and higher. Everyone else - including Leon, Lynch, Fitzgerald, costume designer Paul Tazewell, lighting designer Brian MacDevitt, and all the other actors - keeps A Raisin in the Sun at that high level from beginning to end. If Combs's contributions prevent this production from being absolutely perfect, overall, it still feels like a dream come blissfully true.http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/RaisinSun.html



Roundabout Theater Company
New York City, NY
1986

Directed: Harold Scott
Set design: Thomas Cariello
Costume design: Judy Dearing Lighting design: Shirley Prendergast
Sound design: Rick Menke and Philip Campanella

Cast:
Ruth Younger-Starletta DuPois
ravis Younger-Kimble Joyner
Walter Lee Younger-James Pickens Jr.
Beneatha Younger-Kim Yancey
Lean Younger-Olivia Cole
Joseph Asagai-Vondie Curtis-Hall
George Murchison-Joseph C. Phillips
Bobo-Stephen Henderson
Karl Lindner-John Fiedler
Two Moving Men-Jacob Moultrie and Ron O.J. Parson


http://www.jstor.org/stable/3208286?seq=8

Reviews
THE events of every passing year add resonance to ''A Raisin in the Sun,'' Lorraine Hansberry's play about a black family in Chicago in the 1950's. It is as if history is conspiring to insure that the play will be a classic. And the 10 to 15 minutes of dialogue in the original that has been dropped from performance versions since the play opened on Broadway in 1959 and that is restored in the revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company make ''Raisin'' seem more original, and seminal, than ever. Miss Hansberry's prescient exploration of the conflicts over race, class, roots, women's liberation and personal values that have transformed our thinking but not our society is so powerful that the many flaws in the play are of no consequence.

There is no danger that the audience will leave any performance of ''Raisin'' not enriched, but there are some conceptual and casting problems in the revival by the Roundabout Theater Company. It is hard to avoid the notion that the director, Harold Scott, approaches the play with a little too much reverence. One of the reasons ''Raisin'' is unsettling is that, for all the depth of its emotions and ideas, its structure and situations are not very different from those in ordinary soap operas. This version erases some of those similarities and thus distances the play from the audience and emphasizes the sheer brain power of the dialogue at the cost of the emotional impact the play can have.
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/15/theater/stage-at-roundabout-a-raisin-in-the-sun.html?scp=10&sq=a%20raisin%20in%20the%20sun%20hansberry&st=cse

New Haven
Yale Repertory

Directed: Dennis Scott
Settings: Robert M. Wierzel
Costumes: Richard F. Mays
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton

Cast:
Ruth Younger-Mary Alice
Travis Younger-Troy Streater
Walter Lee Younger-Delroy Lindo
Beneatha Younger-Sharon Mitchell
Lena Younger-Beah Richards
Joseph Asagai-Tyrone Wilson
George Murchison-Dennis Green
Karl Lindner-Joe Ponazecki
Bobo-Mansoor Najee-Ullah
Moving Men-Tim Douglas and Courtney Vance

Reviews
All this is evident in Dennis Scott's vibrant new staging, presented under the aegis of Lloyd Richards, artistic director of the Yale Rep and the director of the original Broadway production. Avoiding the shadow of the celebrated initial cast - Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Louis Gossett Jr. - Mr. Scott is both careful and caring in his concern for the values of the script and for the individuality of his actors. The company behaves as a family - loving, arguing and sharing home ground. The cast is exceptional, from Beah Richards and Mary Alice as Miss Hansberry's iconographic exemplars of stalwart womanhood to the three young Yale drama students who play representatives of a forthcoming generation.

The play remains lodged in its period in language as well as atmosphere. However, in the breadth of her concept, the playwright was prescient, touching on such issues as black nationalism and capitalism at the same time that she links her characters to their enslaved ancestors. On stage we meet three interwoven generations of Youngers, a black family in Chicago. Through the memories of the matriarchal grandmother, Lena, and through the rising consciousness of her granddaughter, the vision becomes a historical vista.

The artistic symbiosis of the actors, the director and the late author carries the play past occasional sermonizing into an area of theatrical concord. In revival, ''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a heartening experience, intimately observed and communicated with integrity. At the end of the evening, one can share the elation first felt a quarter of a century ago when Miss Hansberry made her debut as a new but fully formed playwright.
http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9400E4D71439F93AA35752C1A965948260&scp=13&sq=a%20raisin%20in%20the%20sun%20hansberry&st=cse

Adams Memorial Theatre
Williamstown, MA.
1999

Director: Jack Hofsiss
Set Designer: Michael McGarty
Costume Designer: Karen Perry
Lighting Designer: Rui Rita
Sound Designer: Matthew Spiro

Cast:
Ruth-Viola Davis
Bobo-Joseph Edward
Beneatha-Kimberly Elise
Lena-Gloria Foster
Joseph Asagai-Dion Graham
Karl Linder-Peter Maloney
Walter Lee-Ruben Santiago-Hudson
George-Donn Swaby
Moving Men: Andrew Coutermarsh, Andrew Leeds, Rey Lucas and Ivan mcClellan
Gospel Singers: Gina Coleman, Joseph Edward, Andrew Coutermarsh, Mya Fisher and Rey Lucas

Reviews

This friction, which is given such visceral immediacy here, is the motor of Hansberry's play and what has kept it alive long after many critics would have consigned it to the junk heap of the embarrassingly dated. In a sense, the form and structure of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' are not unlike Lena herself: old-fashioned, sentimental and so domestic that it is hard to think of a scene in which a dish isn't being washed or some laundry being ironed or folded.

But within the sturdy, kitchen-sink context there are other elements, more combustible and dynamic, that match the anxious, angry temperament of Walter Lee. Windows keep popping open in this ostensibly closed universe, admitting subversive breezes and affording larger views. Mr. Hofsiss's production doesn't always find the natural flow to accommodate the opposing currents of ''Raisin,'' but the production still tugs at the heart.
http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9c0ce4dd1f3ef93ba15754c0a96f958260&scp=27&sq=a%20raisin%20in%20the%20sun%20hansberry&st=cse

As the out-of-fashion kitchen sink style does not weaken the power and pertinence of Hansberry's play, neither do the shortcomings of this new production at Williamstown. While not trivial, neither are they unmitigated disasters. The claustrophobic realism of the family's Chicago tenement remains as a potent symbol of their compressed and deferred dreams. By building a more impressionist second tier set, director Jack Hofsiss has added an interesting stab at musically linking the characters on the main set to their culture while also providing a breather from the heated dialogue in the living room below. The designers have ably supported his vision and the gospel singers who provide these between scenes mini-concerts on the darkly lit second stage are wonderful. However, while the concept of these gospel interludes is not without merit and aptness (in his adaptation of Hansberry's To Be Young Gifted and Black, a her fomer husband Robert Nemiroff also interspersed pieces of her work with musical fragments), when incidental music stops being incidental it tends to be intrusive, detracting from the buildup of the play's emotional structure.
http://www.curtainup.com/raisininthesun.html

Part of its enduring power comes from its status as prophecy. The sexual, economic and racial conflicts that shape the Younger family have not begun to subside: from Walter Lee's frustrated struggles for financial independence and for masculine pride in a world of strong women to the quest for an African, rather than American, heritage by his sister, Beneatha (Kimberly Elise), a college student.

Whispers of the women's liberation movement to come are heard in the gentle bristling of Walter Lee's wife, Ruth (the wonderful Viola Davis), at her husband's brusque domination, and in Beneatha's determined desire to become a doctor and to avoid marriage as an answer to her problems. You can even see glimmers of the contrasting paths of the civil rights movement, passive resistance versus more aggressive action, in the approaches of Lena and Walter Lee to the family's crises.

Most poignantly, and most universally, there is the overwhelming sense of a family under siege trying to hold together in a world that would tear it apart. Yes, the way Hansberry develops the immediate cause of dissension in the family, the question of what to do with the $10,000 insurance payment to Lena after her husband's death, has its contrived aspects. But there is no denying the nonjudgmental clarity and compassion of her gaze as she considers the consequences.
http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9c0ce4dd1f3ef93ba15754c0a96f958260&scp=27&sq=a%20raisin%20in%20the%20sun%20hansberry&st=cse



Virginia Stage Company
Wells Theatre
Norfolk, VA
March 30-April 18 2010
Director: Chris Hanna
Scenic Designer: Designer Terry Flint
Costume Designer: Jeni Schaefer
Lighting Designer: A. Nelson Ruger IV

Cast:
Ruth-Lisa Renee Pitts
Walter Lee-Wendell B. Franklin
Lena-Elain Graham
Beneatha-Nicole Gant
Joseph Asagai-Axel Avin, Jr.
George Murshinson-Matthew Cabbil
Karl Lindner-Mark Curtis

Review
The most incredible thing about VSC’s production is how new the play feels. Hanna and company have managed not only to find great humanity, but also brightness, life, and humor in the play that many familiar with it may not even realize was there. For fans of the play, and especially for those with only a passing familiarity, this new production of A Raisin in the Sun is not to be missed. After all, it would be a shame to miss one of the best theatrical events of the season.
http://www.altdaily.com/features/arts/theater/a-raisin-in-the-sun.html



Statement
A Raisin in the Sun is set in a cramped 1953 apartment in Southside Chicago. I believe the difficulty lies in making the space feel small and uncomfortable but have enough space for the actors to move around in. Also, there must be a decision made as to how in depth the set will be. The script calls for a living room, a small kitchen, and a few doors to unseen spaces. Depending on how detailed the set is made really determines the mood of the show. The costumes could be an issue. There is a definite line between interpreting the era and what could be considered too stereotypical. Instead of the characters being real people, the costumes could feel like an exaggeration, bringing the audience out of the show.
Not only would set be an issue for the production in general, but it also here, at Sam Houston State University. I think this show would be best done in the showcase theatre. It is small and intimate just like the play. It is an engaging show and the showcase allows for a special connection to the actors from an audience perspective. I feel as though many of the period pieces designed for at our school have been accurate and suitable to the production. The research and products of the designer would be appropriate.
Some productions have opted to make a full on set including a full kitchen look, even working sink. Others use a suggestive set with less of a kitchen area with an eat-in space leading to an open living space. Costumes were usually period and not embellished, perhaps even understated.
All of the reviews I have read commend and love the script by Lorraine Hansberry. There is a universal appreciation of the material and the very true and real place from which it was written. Most of the negatives I had read were in reference to the actors. The characters are so recognizable and iconic that it makes it hard to portray. Also, the people who have played the roles before are notable for this show and their personal careers, that it makes it hard to pull away from the predecessors performances. For example, the 2004 Broadway revival included Sean “P. Diddy” Combs along side Phylicia Rashad and other experienced actors. Some reviews praised his ambitious efforts while most reviews knocked his acting and ability to get the role by his public status. Reviews also hung on the factor of realism. It is not just a story about poor, black people getting a house in a white neighborhood. Reviewers were always looking for the genuine aspect of the relationships. They wanted a sense of strength and change within the characters.
I believe that A Raisin in the Sun would not be difficult to produce; however, there would need to be great care take throughout the process.

The World of the Play

Macro View

Korean War
1950–1953
Cold war conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces on Korean Peninsula. North Korean communists invade South Korea (June 25, 1950). President Truman, without the approval of Congress, commits American troops to battle (June 27). President Truman removes Gen. Douglas MacArthur as head of U.S. Far East Command (April 11, 1951). Armistice agreement is signed (July 27, 1953).

The war's unpopularity played an important role in the presidential victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. Negotiations broke down four different times, but after much difficulty and nuclear threats by Eisenhower, an armistice agreement was signed (July 27, 1953). Casualties in the war were heavy. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high. Korean forces on both sides executed many alleged civilian enemy sympathizers, especially in the early months of the war.

Another draft for the Korean War called up men aged 18 1/2 to 35, but exempted World War II veterans.
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0903597.html
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0828118.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_drft.html

The Korean War was one of the several wars in the U.S. after World War II. There was also a draft for this war. The threat of going to war and who would then provide for the family was eminent.

Harry S. Truman (January 7, 1953)
President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.

We in this Government realized, even before the first successful atomic explosion, that this new force spelled terrible danger for all mankind unless it were brought under international control. We promptly advanced proposals in the United Nations to take this new source of energy out of the arena of national rivalries, to make it impossible to use it as a weapon of war. These proposals, so pregnant with benefit for all humanity, were rebuffed by the rulers of the Soviet Union.

The language of science is universal, the movement of science is always forward into the unknown. We could not assume that the Soviet Union would not develop the same weapon, regardless of all our precautions, nor that there were not other and even more terrible means of destruction lying in the unexplored field of atomic energy.

We had no alternative, then, but to press on, to probe the secrets of atomic power to the uttermost of our capacity, to maintain, if we could, our initial superiority in the atomic field. At the same time, we sought persistently for some avenue, some formula, for reaching an agreement with the Soviet rulers that would place this new form of power under effective restraints--that would guarantee no nation would use it in war. I do not have to recount here the proposals we made, the steps taken in the United Nations, striving at least to open a way to ultimate agreement. I hope and believe that we will continue to make these efforts so long as there is the slightest possibility of progress. All civilized nations are agreed on the urgency of the problem, and have shown their willingness to agree on effective measures of control--all save the Soviet Union and its satellites. But they have rejected every reasonable proposal.

Meanwhile, the progress of scientific experiment has outrun our expectations. Atomic science is in the full tide of development; the unfolding of the innermost secrets of matter is uninterrupted and irresistible. Since Alamogordo we have developed atomic weapons with many times the explosive force of the early models, and we have produced them in substantial quantities. And recently, in the thermonuclear tests at Eniwetok, we have entered another stage in the world-shaking development of atomic energy. From now on, man moves into a new era of destructive power, capable of creating explosions of a new order of magnitude, dwarfing the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We have no reason to think that the stage we have now reached in the release of atomic energy will be the last. Indeed, the speed of our scientific and technical progress over the last seven years shows no signs of abating. We are being hurried forward, in our mastery of the atom, from one discovery to another, toward yet unforeseeable peaks of destructive power.

Inevitably, until we can reach international agreement, this is the path we must follow. And we must realize that no advance we make is unattainable by others, that no advantage in this race can be more than temporary.
...
With that in mind, there is something I would say, to Stalin: You claim belief in Lenin's prophecy that one stage in the development of communist society would be war between your world and ours. But Lenin was a pre-atomic man, who viewed society and history with pre-atomic eyes. Something profound has happened since he wrote. War has changed its shape and its dimension. It cannot now be a "stage" in the development of anything save ruin for your regime and your homeland.
...
Atomic power will be with us all the days of our lives. We cannot legislate it out of existence. We cannot ignore the dangers or the benefits it offers.

I believe that man can harness the forces of the atom to work for the improvement of the lot of human beings everywhere. That is our goal. As a nation, as a people, we must understand this problem, we must handle this new force wisely through our democratic processes. Above all, we must strive, in all earnestness and good faith, to bring it under effective international control. To do this will require much wisdom and patience and firmness. The awe-inspiring responsibility in this field now falls on a new Administration and a new Congress. I will give them my support, as I am sure all our citizens will, in whatever constructive steps they may take to make this newest of man's discoveries a source of good and not of ultimate destruction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953
http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/164.html

The hydrogen bomb could have been enough to threaten other countries without the actual commitment to use it. If the country went into another World War, it would greatly effect the economic and family life.

Discovery of the Double Helix
James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.

Meanwhile, in 1951, 23-year-old James Watson, a Chicago-born American, arrived at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Watson had two degrees in zoology: a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from the University of Indiana, where he became interested in genetics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953
http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/chemistry-in-history/themes/biomolecules/dna/watson-crick-wilkins-franklin.aspx

This greatly effects the prestige of the University of Chicago, where Beneatha may be studying to become a doctor. Also, this is an important advance in the medical field.

Jonas Salk and Polio Vaccine
The 1952 epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of the victims children. The "public reaction was to a plague", said historian William O'Neill. "Citizens of urban areas were to be terrified every summer when this frightful visitor returned." According to a 2009 PBS documentary, "Apart from the atomic bomb, America's greatest fear was polio." As a result, scientists were in a frantic race to find a way to prevent or cure the disease. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the world's most recognized victim of the disease and founded the organization that would fund the development of a vaccine.

In November, 1953, at a conference in New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, he said, "I will be personally responsible for the vaccine." He announced that his wife and three sons had been among the first volunteers to be inoculated with his vaccine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk

The play is set in a poor, urban area, which could have contained many individuals with polio. It was a dangerous threat and the idea of a vaccine was a much needed hope.

What Things Cost in 1953:
Car: $1,850
Gasoline: 29 cents/gal
House: $17,500
Bread: 16 cents/loaf
Milk: 94 cents/gal
Postage Stamp: 3 cents
Stock Market: 281
Average Annual Salary: $4,700
Minimum Wage: 75 cents per hour
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1953%20QF.htm

The prices provided really put the cost of living for Americans into perspective. If they have a minimum wage job at 75 cents an hour for 8 hours, 5 days a week, that's $30 a week. If paid weekly for 52 weeks, this only comes to $1,560 a year. This helps bring light to the Youngers' financial situation. It could show why everyone in the family has to work so hard, and why it could be such a problem of Walter Lee's that Beneatha spends her time at school.

Minimum Wage
1938-Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting the first minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour (June 25).

"...the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set minimum wages at $.25 per hour for workers engaged in interstate commerce (with some exceptions); the act also set up industry committees to recommend rates for every industry. In 1950 the minimum wage was raised to $.75 per hour. "
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0903596.html
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/bus/A0833308.html

Minimum wage is a fairly new concept in the United States. It was not fully implemented right away, so the 25 cents hourly wage wasn't always a guarantee for non-government jobs. In the beginning of the play, Travis asks Ruth for 50 cents for school. The minimum wage was only raised to 75 cents an hour in 1950. Since the play is a within this time or a little earlier, 50 cents is almost an hour's worth of work. Ruth tells Travis, "No," because they really can't afford it; however, then Walter Lee gives it to him in spite of Ruth. This can help define Walter Lee's personally view on money and his relationships. This continues to help define the family and their idea of money with the other references to currency.

A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

"Langston Hughes spoke for most of the writers and artists when he wrote in his essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain (1926) that black art intend to express themselves freely, no matter what the black public or white public thought."
http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance

This poem inspired the title of the play.

June 8, 1953
The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/1953/

Progress in Civil Rights affects the nation and the movement towards integration in law.

December 9, 1953
General Electric announces that all Communist employees will be discharged from the company.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/1953/

Along with ideas of racism and sexism, the threat of being identified as a Communist adds another layer of alienation and discrimination developing/continuing in America.

Micro View

Carl Hansberry, Hansberry v. Lee
When his youngest child was eight, Hansberry bought a house in a neighborhood that was restricted to whites. The family was met with intense hostility by local residents and forced to vacate the home by the local courts. Hansberry challenged the ruling, which led to the landmark Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee (1940).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hansberry

The facts of the case dealt with a racially restrictive covenant that barred African Americans from purchasing or leasing land in a Chicago neighborhood. The covenant had been upheld in a prior class action lawsuit, which had included Lee, along with all the other neighborhood landowners, as members of the class. The defense in the present case argued that Hansberry could not contest the covenant because it had already been deemed valid by the courts in the prior lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed and held that, since it was shown that some of the neighborhood landowners (46%) comprising the class of the prior lawsuit did not support the restrictive covenant, the previous decision that the covenant was valid could not apply to each and every member of that class. In other words, it was erroneous to allow the 54% of neighborhood landowners who had supported the restrictive covenant to represent the interests of the 46% who were against it. Therefore, the Supreme Court held that the restrictive covenant could be contested in court again, even though some of the parties involved may have been included in the prior class of neighborhood landowners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansberry_v._Lee

I find this information vitally important, because it tells exactly what the playwright and her family experienced. Lorraine Hansberry was completely inspired by her own, real life experiences.

Washington Park Subdivision
The Washington Park Subdivision is the name of the historic 3-city block by 8-city block subdivision in the northwest corner of the Woodlawn community area, on the South Side of Chicago in Illinois that stands in the place of the original Washington Park Race Track. It was originally an exclusively white neighborhood that included residential housing, amusement parks, and beer gardens.

During the late 1920s and 1930s, the area became the subject of discriminatory twenty-year covenants, which were determined to be invalid by the United States Supreme Court, when challenged in a seminal case by Carl Hansberry. The case is a vital part of legal studies and considered an important part of a broad class of histories. The play Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry's struggles in this neighborhood.

Between 1900 and 1934, the African American population in Chicago grew from 30,000 to 236,000. In this time, Chicago's demographics changed so that instead of having this population diluted in scattered places, it was concentrated in two large strips of land. The concentration was enforced by violence at first, but restrictive covenants became the preferred way to enforce segregation after a few decades.

Although they were previously rare, racially restrictive covenants among property owners that outlawed the purchase, lease, or occupation of their properties by African Americans became common in Chicago in the 1920s, following the Great Migration. Local businessmen and the University of Chicago became alarmed at the prospect of poorer African Americans moving from the Black Belt due to a combination of racial succession and economic decline. In 1926, the United States Supreme Court upheld racially restrictive covenants in Corrigan v. Buckley (271 U.S. 323 (1926)). In 1927, the Chicago Real Estate Board (CREB) sent representatives throughout the city to promote such covenants, which it viewed as a progressive alternative to violence. The board representatives provided model contracts drafted by the Chicago Plan Commission as part of their efforts. By 1928, the Hyde Park Herald reported that the covenants prevailed throughout the South Side, and 95% of the homes in the subdivision were covenanted. Most African American neighborhoods were bounded by covenanted areas since 85% of Chicago was covenanted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Park_Subdivision

The Washington Park subdivision is not only the setting of the play, but the previous home to the playwright herself. Her father, Carl Hansberry, also had a hand in trying to turn over the racially restrictive covenants of Chicago. This history also shows specific reasons why Mr. Lindner, the Clybourne Park representative, would have been sent to try and pay off the Younger family. 'White Flight' occurred when African Americans would moved into an all-white or mostly white community. The white community would move elsewhere so as not to live with the blacks. This information shows that this struggle was ongoing.

$10,000
What cost $10000 in 1950 would cost $88151.84 in 2009.
Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2009 and 1950,they would cost you $10000 and $1118.68 respectively.
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

Knowing how much money the insurance check is that Mama will recieve is important. It puts the amount into a perspective relevant to the actors, and helps them understand how much this means to this poor family.

Housing in Chicago
The Black Belt of Chicago was the chain of neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago where three-quarters of the city's African American population lived by the mid-20th century. The Black Belt was an area of aging, dilapidated housing that stretched 30 blocks along State Street on the South Side. It was rarely more than seven blocks wide. The South Side black belt expanded in only two directions in the twentieth century - south and east. The South Side's "black belt" also contained zones related to economic status. The poorest blacks lived in the northernmost, oldest section of the black belt, while the elite resided in the southernmost section. In the mid-1900s, blacks began slowly moving up to better positions in the work force. During this time, Chicago was the capital of Black America. Many African Americans who moved to the Black Belt area of Chicago were from the Black Belt in the Southeastern region of the United States. Discrimination played a big role in the lives of blacks. They often struggled to find decent housing.

Immigration to Chicago was another pressure of overcrowding, as primarily lower-class newcomers from rural Europe also sought cheap housing and working class jobs. More and more people tried to fit into converted "kitchenette" and basement apartments. Living conditions in the Black Belt resembled conditions in the West Side ghetto or in the stockyards district. Although there were decent homes in the Negro sections, the core of the Black Belt was a slum. A 1934 census estimated that black households contained 6.8 people on average, whereas white households contained 4.7. Many blacks lived in apartments that lacked plumbing, with only one bathroom for each floor. With the buildings so overcrowded, building inspections and garbage collection were below the minimum mandatory requirements for healthy sanitation. This unhealthiness increased the threat of disease. From 1940-1960, the infant death rate in the Black Belt was 16% higher than the rest of the city.

In 1946, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) tried to ease the pressure in the overcrowded ghettos and proposed to put public housing sites in less congested areas in the city. The white residents did not take to this very well, so city politicians forced the CHA to keep the status quo and develop high rise projects in the Black Belt and on the West Side. Some of these became notorious failures. As industrial restructuring in the 1950s and later led to massive job losses, residents changed from working class families to poor families on welfare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_African_Americans_in_Chicago

The housing situation for the Southside of Chicago is terrible. Situations somewhat like this exist today, but there are different, dynamic layers of issues with this situation of the past. There was a more dominant, accepted racism that the actors and director need to understand to fully commit to the lessons of this play. Why does Mama want the family to move so badly? Why does she want Travis, especially, to know about the move? How would this area effect Ruth keeping the new baby? How does this change Beneatha's attitude about herself? All these questions, and more, are answered by their enviornment.

Congress of Racial Equality: CORE
CORE was founded in Chicago in 1942 by James L. Farmer, Jr., George Houser, James R. Robinson, and Bernice Fisher. Bayard Rustin, while not a father of the organization, was, Farmer and Houser later said, "an uncle to CORE" and supported it greatly. The group had evolved out of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, and sought to apply the principles of nonviolence as a tactic against segregation. The group's inspiration was Krishnalal Shridharani's book War Without Violence (1939, Harcourt Brace), which outlined Gandhi's step-by-step procedures for organizing people and mounting a nonviolent campaign. Shridharani, a popular writer and journalist as well as a vibrant and theatrical speaker, had been a protege of Gandhi and had been jailed in the Salt March. Gandhi had, in turn, been influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau. At the time of CORE's founding Mohandas Gandhi was still engaged in non-violent resistance against British rule in India; CORE believed that nonviolent civil disobedience could also be used by African-Americans to challenge racial segregation in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Racial_Equality

CORE was created and grown out of Chicago. It has been a major component in the battle for racial equality. I believe that Asagai and Beneatha, or even perhaps more of the Younger family, would have been interested in attending meetings and getting more information.

Trumbull Park Homes Race Riots, 1953-1954
South Deering erupted in violence in 1953 over the issue of racial integration at the neighborhood's lone public housing project, Trumbull Park Homes, located at 105th Street and Yates Avenue. Since 1937, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) had maintained an unstated policy to house only whites at projects that, like Trumbull Park, were located in entirely white neighborhoods. However, the project was “accidentally” integrated on July 30, 1953, because the CHA assumed that Betty Howard, an exceptionally fair-skinned African American, was white. Beginning on August 5 and continuing nightly for weeks thereafter, crowds of whites directed fireworks, rocks, and racial epithets toward Betty and Donald Howard's apartment. Police responded with a show of force but few arrests. South Deering leaders openly pressured Chicago politicians and the CHA to remove the Howards, while progressive forces argued for further integration. In October, after lengthy debate, the CHA's commissioners reluctantly agreed to move in 10 additional black families, triggering a new round of white violence directed at blacks. A massive police presence prevented full-scale rioting, but chronic racial tension and sporadic violence continued through the 1950s.
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2461.html

This shows that there was triumphs in progressive movements with integration; however, not all of Chicago was ready for the change.

University of Chicago
In the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In response, the University became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park, which profoundly affected both the neighborhood's architecture and street plan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_chicago#1920s.E2.80.931980s

Beneatha goes to college, and this is close to where she could have attended.

Urban Renewal
In the 1950s and 1960s the University of Chicago, supported by the community under the title "Fight Against Blight"and by community leaders including Hyde Park Herald publisher Bruce Sagan, sponsored of one of the largest urban-renewal plans in the nation. In coordination with the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, the urban renewal plan resulted in the demolition and redevelopment of entire city blocks of decayed housing and other buildings with the goal of creating an "interracial community of high standards."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park,_Chicago#Urban_Renewal

This helps understand more community changes.

Chicago Music
The Chicago blues scene dated back to the 1930s, but in 1948 Aristocrat records broke new ground and set the tone for rhythm and blues for the next 10 years with the release of Muddy Waters's “I Can't Be Satisfied.” Throughout the 1950s Aristocrat, which became the famous Chess Records label, pumped out a steady supply of R&B hits with some of the nation's most popular artists, including Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, and Howlin' Wolf.

On the other hand, conditions in Chicago provided these blues artists with much to sing about. Blacks still faced widespread employment discrimination. Stores in the Loop refused to hire African Americans as clerks. Black bus drivers, police officers, and firefighters were limited to positions serving their own community. Construction trades remained closed.
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/27.html

Chicago has marked itself as a creative brewing center. Developments in creative outlet and inspiration.

Sounds & Images

Pearl Bailey























http://mylittleboudoir.com/2010/03/16/mademoiselle-monday-mlle-bailey/
"Pearl Bailey" is used as a stage direction/reference for Ruth. The energy of a person is very important, especially if used as a reference.


Great Garbo

http://www.prlog.org/10193496-moda-entertainment-announces-licensing-deal-with-paper-studio-press-for-client-greta-garbo.html

Clip: Great Garbo-Mata Hari (1931)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5DVB3iIxAw

Greta Garbo is referenced when George tells Beneatha to "drop the Garbo routine."


Harry Belafonte




















http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20208037_8,00.html

Sound: Harry Belafonte-Matilda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RJr8OvMnHE

Harry Belafonte is used as a stage direction/character suggestion for Walter Lee when he comes back from a night out and Beneatha is playing Nigerian music.

Paul Robeson [as Othello]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/missbigelow/detail?blogid=177&entry_id=55225

Sound: Paul Robeson-Ol' Man River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s
Paul Robeson is also used as a stage direction/character suggestion for Walter Lee when he comes back from a night out and Beneatha is playing Nigerian music.

Shaka Zulu

http://laye97diedhiou.vip-blog.com/express.php?pseudo=laye97diedhiou

Video: Shaka Zulu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_hS_DKab8I

"Descedant of chaka" is a used as a stage direction/character for Walter Lee when he comes back from a night out and Beneatha is playing Nigerian music. 'Chaka' is also 'Shaka.'

Video: Yoruba Bata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCv03EolhMQ

Asagai is Nigerian, specifically of the Yoruban tribe.

Statement

The title of the play is a line from a poem by Langston Hughes called ‘Harlem’ or ‘Dream Deferred.’ Hughes wrote that artists of, “…black art intend to express themselves freely, no matter what the black public or white public thought."

A Raisin in the Sun, set in 1953, portrays the real life of an African American family trying to make a living in the Southside of Chicago. The 50s were a limbo period for Civil Rights. There were enough people who supported change to create disturbances, but also many more who opposed change.

Chicago was a particular hot spot for racial tension. The Great Migration had created an influx of African Americans in a series of neighborhoods of Chicago, which later became known as the ‘Black Belt.’ Due to residential covenants, legal restrictions as to where African Americans could and could not live, African Americans really had no other place to go. Not only was there segregation between white and black communities, but the ‘Black Belt’ established housing sections based on economic success. The southern most section was inhabited by the elite blacks of the community, whereas the nethermost lived in the oldest, poorest part.

During my research, I discovered that the playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, was in a similar situation as the Youngers, when she was a child. Her father, Carl Hansberry, had bought a home for his family in an all white section of town called Washington Park. When the Hansberry family moved into the home, the white community was hostile and the family was eventually made to vacate the home by local courts. Later, Carl Hansberry challenged the ruling in a case that became a landmark in the Supreme Court, known as Hansberry v. Lee (1940).

The problem was that an earlier court ruling held that a racially restrictive covenant had been agreed upon, which included Lee, and could not be contested. However, since not all landowners of the last case agreed to the covenant (46%), then the other landowners (54%) who did support it could not speak on their behalf as majority. In conclusion, the Supreme Court ruled that the covenant could be contested even if some of the parties were involved in the last case.

Trumball Park Homes was an ‘accidentally’ integrated housing project. A woman applied and was accepted to live in the community, but upon moving in, the neighborhood found out she was a black woman who was light skinned enough to have passed as white. The neighbors rioted every night, throwing things, etcetera at the family’s apartment. After much reluctance the Chicago Housing Authority moved in 10 more black families, which lead to the ignition of more violence towards blacks of the community. The chronic racial tensions and violence continued throughout the 1950s.

CORE: Congress of Racial Equality was founded and grown out of Chicago. The group was applied Gandhi’s idea of non-violence as a device against segregation. It has been a major component in the battle for racial equality.

In conjunction with the fight for Civil Rights, the nation was in transition from World War II to the Cold War and several conflicts with Communists. The fear of draft still remained. Developments of the hydrogen bomb fueled the idea of another war.

There were also major scientific advancements such as the discovery of the double helix for DNA by James D. Watson and Francis Crick. This opened up a whole new world for sciences of all kinds. (Watson graduated from the University of Chicago.) Also, the polio vaccine was developed and continued research. In 1952, the nation saw the worst Polio epidemic with the death of 3,145 people and 21, 269 people left with mild paralysis, many of whom were children. The vaccine gave hope to the public and its future.

Minimum Wage is completely taken for granted. Established in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards act set up a minimum wage for interstate commerce workers. The first raise was from 25 cents to 50 cents in 1950.

The $10,000 insurance the Youngers will receive translates to $88,151.84 today. What seems obtainable in less than a year to us today is put into a stark perspective. If someone were to work 40 hours a week at 50 cents an hour for 52 weeks, the yearly income would be $1,040. So, it would take 9 to 10 years to make the whole insurance amount. As a minimum estimate, it is still unsettling.

Overall, the 1950s are a tumultuous period of history which greatly affected the entire world. A Raisin in the Sun is an intimate glimpse into a real life situation of African American people who want what everyone desires: stability, acceptance, a better life.

The Facts of the Play

A Raisin in the Sun

About the Script
Author: Lorraine Hansberry
Language: English
Play Structure: Three Acts, Six Scenes
Cast Breakdown: Seven Men, Three Women, One Boy
Approximate Running Time: 3 hours
Genre: Drama
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc. ; $75 per performance

Exegesis

Graft (p. 15)
The acquisition of gain (as money) in dishonest or questionable ways; also : illegal or unfair gain
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graft

Herero woman (p. 21)
"The Herero are one of Namibia's main tribes and the women are easily recognizable by their distinctive Victorian look influenced by early German missionaries."










http://goafrica.about.com/od/namibiaatravelguide/ig/Namibia--Southern-Africa/Herero-Woman--Namibia.htm

Unobtrusively (p. 20)
not obtrusive : not blatant, arresting, or aggressive : inconspicuous
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unobtrusively

Furtively (p.25)
a : done by stealth, surreptitious: expressive of stealth: sly
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/furtively

Nigeria, 1900-1960 (p.35)
"The rival claims of Nigeria's various regions become most evident after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to meet African demands for political power. By 1951 the country has been divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each with its own house of assembly. In addition there is a separate house of chiefs for the Northern province, to reflect the strong tradition there of tribal authority. And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of Nigeria.
In 1954 a new constitution (the third in eight years) establishes the Federation of Nigeria and adds the Federal Territory of Lagos."
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad41

Forlornly (p.35)
being in poor condition: miserable, wretched; nearly hopeless
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forlornly

Nigerian Robes for Women (p.38)


























http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/attire.html

Opegede(p.38)
There are different kinds of musical instruments such as Ganga, Ngwere, Opu, Oletu, Opegede and Iwe Ganga (small drum).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChatAfriK/message/21278

Ocomogosiay (p.51)
chant that “welcomes the hunters back to the village." Thanks for using ChaCha
http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-definition-of-ocomogosiay

Pearl Bailey (p.51)
African-American actress and singer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Bailey

Garbo Routine (p. 67)
George wants Beneatha to be more quiet and submissive. He implies in his speech that men do not like aggressive, independent, liberated women, and that if she ever hopes to get married and have a family, she is going to have to "drop the Garbo routine," meaning she will have to stop studying and thinking so much, and start acting "like a [submissive] woman."
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/A-Raisin-in-the-Sun-Character-Analyses-Walter-Lee-Younger-Brother-.id-150,pageNum-26.html

Retrogression (p. 92)
regression; return to a former and less complex level of development or organization
http://east.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retrogression


Fable with Plot Summary
Fable
The play opens with Ruth already awake, preparing stuff for the day. Ruth tries to wakes up Travis, her son, so he can use the shared restroom. They live in this tiny apartment in the Southside of Chicago. Then Ruth wakes Walter Lee, her husband. He’s irritated that the restroom isn’t ready for him to use. He asks about the insurance money Mama, his mother, will be receiving. Ruth says, “Stop talking about that money.” As he eats breakfast, he continues to nag Ruth about the money and how she should try to convince Mama to give him the money to invest into the liquor store that he wants with his friends. Beneatha, Walter Lee’s sister, wakes up and come into the living room as well. Walter Lee argues with Beneatha about the money. He doesn’t think it’s fair that she’ll get money for medical school when he can’t have money for his liquor store dream. Travis comes in and Walter Lee goes to the restroom to get ready for work. Beneatha goes back to the room she shares with Mama. Travis asks for fifty cents that he needs for school. Ruth denies him and makes him eat breakfast. Walter Lee comes back, and Travis tells him, “She won’t let me have fifty cents for school.” Walter Lee asks, “Why?” and Ruth tells him the same response for Travis, that they don’t have it. Walter Lee gives Travis the money and hugs Travis as he looks back at Ruth. When Travis leaves, he tells Ruth that Travis is his son. They continue to discuss things, then Walter must leave for work. He gets money from Ruth’s purse. Mama comes in from the shared bedroom and talks with Ruth. Beneatha comes in, and they all talk. Beneatha has two suitors after her. One, Murchinson, is rich, but too shallow for her. The other, Asagai, is from Nigeria, and she likes him, but cannot commit. Ruth and Mama get on to Beneatha about being a flit from different things she wants to learn and about the boys. Ruth then talks to Mama about the idea that Walter Lee has, but Mama will not support it. They talk about Walter Sr. and how good of a man he was. He was hard working and loved his children. At the end of the scene Mama finds out Ruth is pregnant.
Walter Lee comes home and Ruth is out doing stuff. Mama is home. He tries to talk with her. Ruth comes home. Walter Lee goes into the bedroom he shares with Ruth. Ruth slips calling the doctor she has seen a ‘she’ rather than the usual family doctor, who is a man. Mama notices. Walter Lee comes from the bedroom, saying he’s going out. Mama says they need to talk. Walter says, “No, I’m going out!” He says that Ruth has done nothing for him and he needs some man time. All this talking happens when Ruth leaves to her bedroom, Mama tells Walter Lee Ruth was going to abort the baby. He says, “No, she wouldn’t.” Ruth comes from the bedroom and says, “Yes, I would. I made a down payment on the procedure. This is what’s best for the family.” Walter leaves.
Beneatha is seen by Asagai, he gives her a gift of robes from his homeland and they talk about how they miss each other. Later she goes out with, Murchinson, and he’s not nice to her, but gets back all of his meanness in the form of drunken Walter Lee. [Walter came home earlier.]
The check comes in on Saturday. Mama goes out. Stuff happens at the house, Mama comes back around the same time as Travis. Mama tells everyone, especially Travis, she put a down payment on a home for the family. She gives half of what’s left to Beneatha for school and the other half to Walter Lee to invest. Walter Lee is sent to the bank to deposit the money.
A representative, Lindner, from Clybourne Park, where Mama got the house, comes to visit and pay them off to move out of the white neighborhood. They say no.
Walter Lee is visited by Bobo who tells him the third guy who was going to invest with them, took both Walter Lee’s money and his money and ran. Walter Lee calls back the Clybourne guy and is going to take the money from him to replace the stolen money. Everyone is upset about that. Walter Lee then tells the man, infront of everyone, that they are happy to be moving to the house and he just wanted to let the guy know. So, they will not be bought out of this white neighborhood.
The movers come. They all move to the new house with high hopes. Mama takes the little, scraggly plant with them.

Plot Summary
A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The matriarch of the family, Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Mama’s son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Walter’s wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis. Finally, Beneatha, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter, wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. She also wishes that her family members were not so interested in joining the white world. Beneatha instead tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and to Africa.

As the play progresses, the Youngers clash over their competing dreams. Ruth discovers that she is pregnant but fears that if she has the child, she will put more financial pressure on her family members. When Walter says nothing to Ruth’s admission that she is considering abortion, Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. This house is in Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood. When the Youngers’ future neighbors find out that the Youngers are moving in, they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal, even after Walter loses the rest of the money ($6,500) to his friend Willy Harris, who persuades Walter to invest in the liquor store and then runs off with his cash.

In the meantime, Beneatha rejects her suitor, George Murchison, whom she believes to be shallow and blind to the problems of race. Subsequently, she receives a marriage proposal from her Nigerian boyfriend, Joseph Asagai, who wants Beneatha to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him (Beneatha does not make her choice before the end of the play). The Youngers eventually move out of the apartment, fulfilling the family’s long-held dream. Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are optimistic and determined to live a better life. They believe that they can succeed if they stick together as a family and resolve to defer their dreams no longer

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/raisin/summary.html

Characters (in order of appearance)
1. Ruth Younger (F): Ruth is a 30ish woman of slightly worn beauty. She looks as if so much more of life has happened to her than should have. She is strong and willing to do what she she feels is best for the family.
2. Travis Younger (M): Travis is the young son of Ruth and Walter Lee. He is around 9-10 years old. As children do, he does not fully grasp the situation his family is in.
3. Walter Lee Younger [Brother] (M): Walter Lee is a 30ish man who feels like life has beat him down. He feels powerless and as if nothing will ever go right for him. Walter Lee wants the insurance check to get out of his lifelong sense of helplessness and gain a manhood he's never felt.
4. Beneatha Younger (F): Beneatha is Walter Lee's younger sister. She is in her early 20s and curious about life. She recognizes her place in life, and tries everything to defy it. Bennie attends college and tries many things, such as guitar lessons.
5. Lena Younger (Mama) (F): Lena is the mother of Walter Lee and Beneatha. She is in her middle to late 60s. She is the head of the household and the glue of the family. Like Ruth, Lena will do anything for the family. She also makes the decision to use most of the insurance money to put a down payment on a house for the family.
6. Joseph Asagai (M): Asagai is in his early 20s and from the Nigerian tribe of Yuroba. He is one of Beneatha's suitors. He is genuinely interested in Bennie as a person and values her opinions.
7. George Murchison (M): George is in his early 20s and the second suitor. He is lost in the ideas of what's appropriate and popular for this time. He does not appreciate Beneatha's individuality and point of view.
8. Bobo (M): Bobo is one of the two other men that plan on investing in the liquor store with Walter Lee.
9. Karl Lindner (M): Mr. Lindner is the elected representative from Clybourne Park. He is sent to the Youngers' current home to offer them payment to not move into this all-white neighborhood.
10. Two Moving Men (M): These two men enter at the end of the play to help the Youngers move into their new home.

Characters and Casting


I think A Raisin in the Sun holds to some strict casting ideas. I do not believe that the Youngers should be casted any other race than African American. The whole play is based on trials of this particular black family. Although there were other races in America that were equally demeaned and chastised, the vernacular, character names, and Africa interests used define the overall cast. Besides, most of America's history deals with the white/black conflict through slavery and imperialism through the British, which offers a more powerful basis for casting strictly African American actors in the leading roles. Beneatha struggles with the desire to know her African roots and the idea of acting white to be successful. George and Asagai are the personification of that struggle, which defines them as being casted African American. Mr. Lindner has to be Caucasian, because he represents the new breed of racism. He is the white man who understands that blacks have hard times. He's willing to give them a chance, but within their own circumstances. As long as the blacks stay within their own community, within what is already theirs, he, and those he represents, are more than happy to let the blacks succeed. The hardships faced by the African American people during this particular period in time are difficult to compare to other races who live in America.

Definitions of Dramaturgy

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Definition 1 provided by
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dramaturgy

The art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation

Definition 2 provided by
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-dramaturgy.htm

"Dramaturgy is a branch of the theatrical arts which involves bringing productions to life on the stage. ... In addition to being involved with the language and music of the stage, dramaturgy also involves staging itself, including blocking of actors, set design, and the aesthetic composition of theatrical productions. ... Dramaturgy can also involve theatrical criticism, which is why some theater directors, producers, and advisors are trained in this field. ... An experienced dramaturg is familiar with the history of the theatrical tradition, often in many cultures, and he or she can put historical plays into context."

Definition 3 provided by
http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/dramaturgy_faq.php

"...discuss a play with an audience/playwright/production team; how to provide useful information and expand the play for the designers, actors and director. We do a lot to develop our critical thinking skills through script analysis and studying the histories of dramatic literature and dramatic theory."