Lorraine Hansberry Archives - Broadway Black https://www.broadwayblack.com/tag/lorraine-hansberry/ When Theatre Goes Dark Thu, 11 Mar 2021 19:52:11 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/www.broadwayblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-Broadway-Gold-B-1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Lorraine Hansberry Archives - Broadway Black https://www.broadwayblack.com/tag/lorraine-hansberry/ 32 32 26346292 A Dream Realized: On This Day In Black Theatre History A Raisin In the Sun Debuts on Broadway https://www.broadwayblack.com/a-dream-realized-on-this-day-in-black-theatre-history-a-raisin-in-the-sun-debuts-on-broadway/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/a-dream-realized-on-this-day-in-black-theatre-history-a-raisin-in-the-sun-debuts-on-broadway/#respond Thu, 11 Mar 2021 19:52:11 +0000 https://www.broadwayblack.com/?p=25737 Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the Broadway debut of Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play A Raisin In the Sun. It was on this date that history was made as Hansberry was the first African American woman to have her play produced and performed on Broadway; it was also the first Broadway play to be directed […]

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Friedman-Abeles/New York Public Library

Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the Broadway debut of Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play A Raisin In the Sun. It was on this date that history was made as Hansberry was the first African American woman to have her play produced and performed on Broadway; it was also the first Broadway play to be directed by a Black person (Lloyd Richards). It opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater (and later moved to the Belasco Theater) on March 11, 1959, and played for a total of 530 performances before closing on June 25, 1960.

The play centers around the Youngers: a family of five that lives in a 2-bedroom apartment on the Southside of Chicago. Set to the backdrop of post-WWII, the family’s pursuit of success is driven by the idealization of the American dream; often thwarted by the consequential effects of racism, cultural appropriation and identity, and generational differences. Hansberry gives the reader, and oftentimes the performer, an eye-opening look into the Black experience in America with questions of freedom – educational and economic – ruling the conversation.

The play echoes many of the circumstances and accounts of the playwright’s family from the 1940 Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee, which gave them a voice in the judicial system to fight against racial discrimination in the housing market.  Inspired by that, she wrote parts of her truth through the language of a family who only wanted their slice of the American pie; a slice that would feed their spirits in a world that starved them of their identity. 

A Raisin In the Sun has seen a long history on Broadway and around the world. After the original production was nominated in 1960 for four Tony Awards, the story became a universal tale of hope and success. The original production starred Hollywood leading man Sidney Poitier (later succeeded by Ossie Davis), Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Louis Gossett, Ivan Dixon, Lonne Elder III, John Fiedler, Glynn Turman, and Ed Hall. Multiple iterations of Hansberry’s classic have graced the stage and screen over the last 62 years: 

1961 film starring the original Broadway cast. 

Raisin (a musical based on A Raisin In the Sun) debuted on Broadway in 1973. The book was written by Hansberry’s former husband and starred Joe Morton, Debbie Allen, Virginia Capers (Tony winner for Lead Actress in a Musical), Ernestine Jackson, and Ralph Carter. It also won the Tony Award for Best Musical. 

1989 tv film starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle.

2004 Broadway revival starring Sean Combs, Audra McDonald (Tony winner for Best Featured Actress in a Play), Sanaa Lathan, and Phylicia Rashad (Tony winner for Best Actress in a Play; also the first Black woman to win this award).

2008 tv movie event starring many of the leads of the 2004 Broadway revival. 

2014 Broadway revival at the Ethel Barrymore Theater (where it originally played in 1959) starring Denzel Washington, Sophie Okonedo (Tony winner for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play), Anika Noni Rose, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson. The production also won the Tonys for Best Revival of a Play and Best Direction for Kenny Leon (who also directed the 2008 tv movie). 

The title was inspired by the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem,” which starts out with “what happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” It is the hope in the midst of suffering and the strength in the midst of pain that makes this classic theatre work a blessing to the arts community.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Broadway Black honors Lorraine Hansberry. Your dream is a gift to us all.

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/a-dream-realized-on-this-day-in-black-theatre-history-a-raisin-in-the-sun-debuts-on-broadway/feed/ 0 25737 Class Is In Session: 5 Plays by Black Playwrights Every Young Black Student Should Read https://www.broadwayblack.com/black-plays-for-black-students/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/black-plays-for-black-students/#respond Wed, 03 Feb 2021 13:56:53 +0000 https://www.broadwayblack.com/?p=25211 With the pandemic closing the doors on Broadway and schools shifting their teaching methods to remote learning, students across our country are devoid of a full live arts experience. Many high school arts programs have had to cancel their seasons due to the coronavirus, and arts educators have had to lean into their talents with […]

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]]> With the pandemic closing the doors on Broadway and schools shifting their teaching methods to remote learning, students across our country are devoid of a full live arts experience. Many high school arts programs have had to cancel their seasons due to the coronavirus, and arts educators have had to lean into their talents with a “yes, and” attitude to re-engage future theatre powerhouses. For the start of Black History Month 2021, here is a list of the top five plays by Black writers that every young Black student should be familiar with:

A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Loosely based on the playwright’s life, the Younger family grapples with an American dilemma that coerces the psyche into believing that separate really is equal. In post-WWII Chicago, where everyone was looking to feed themselves literally and figuratively with a piece of the American dream, Walter, Ruth, Mama, Beneatha, and Travis find themselves in the middle of a custody battle over the soul and integrity of America; believing in the power of change and progression and reconciling with the truth of a divided American landscape. This drama first debuted on Broadway in 1959, starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett, Claudia McNeil, and Glynn Turman. It has since seen multiple revivals on Broadway in 2004 and 2014, with the 2004 production winning for Best Actress in a Play for Phylicia Rashaad and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Audra McDonald. The 2014 production resulted in wins for Sophie Okonedo for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Kenny Leon for Direction of a Play, and Best Revival of a Play. A Raisin In the Sun is also the first play written by a Black woman to be performed and produced on Broadway. 

A full audio recording of the play from L.A. Theatre Works can be found HERE.

Fences by August Wilson

Written in 1985 as part of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle,” Fences closely tracks the internal turmoil that Troy faces in providing for his wife and teenage son. As a man whose dreams were not fully realized as a major league baseball player, Troy tries to build himself up within the city sanitation department as a driver (something Black men weren’t allowed to do). Young people should read this play primarily for the conversation between Troy and his son, Cory, about being a parent, a caregiver, and a Black man. Troy says, “A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house… sleep your behind on my bedclothes… fill your belly up with my food… cause you my son—you my flesh and blood. Not ’cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take care of you.” The original Broadway production won the Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (James Earl Jones), Best Direction, and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Mary Alice). The 2010 revival won Best Performance by a Leading Actor and Leading Actress in a Play for Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, respectively, and Best Revival of a Play. 

 

for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange 

Shange’s emotional choreopoem, which fuses music, dance, and poetry, is a literary blueprint for understanding and appreciating Black women. It debuted at the Booth Theater in New York City in 1976 and was only the second work by a Black woman to be done on Broadway (it was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1976). Referred to only by a color (red, orange, blue, green, purple, yellow, and brown), each woman relishes in her own self-discovery and self-identity in a world that has yet to see them for the beautiful humans they are. Shange illuminates the power of Black female sisterhood while also encouraging the reader to heal, survive, and reclaim their joy. The Public Theater recently did a production in 2019 that Camille A. Brown choreographed. 

Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau

Omari is a young Black male dealing with the pressures of high school academia in a school where microaggressions are as common as saying the pledge of allegiance. Morisseau’s modern drama on race and the education system may appear to be a shocking reflection of what young people may encounter today. Still, it is also a challenge for educators everywhere to see their students beyond a name on a class roster. Omari and his mother, Nya, push each other to combat the triggers that young Black men face regularly, and do some deep soul-searching to heal their mother-son relationship, so Omari doesn’t lose himself by proving himself. The play was nominated for five Lucille Lortel Awards during its run at Lincoln Center and can currently be found on BroadwayHD.

 

The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe

Performed as vignettes known as “exhibits,” The Colored Museum illuminates the  Black experience by taking the reader and audience member on a historical journey from the flight to Savannah from the Ivory Coast in “Git On Board” to the ode to Black theatre drama in “The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play” in which Wolfe makes references to Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf and Hansberry’s A Raisin In the Sun. The Colored Museum takes the tragedy and pain of our experience as Black people living in America. It gives it a distinct voice of truth and integrity that has otherwise been whitewashed and gaslit.

 

 

Honorable mentions:

A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller

Blues For Mister Charlie by James Baldwin

Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/black-plays-for-black-students/feed/ 0 25211 Atlantic Theater Company Premieres Skeleton Crew https://www.broadwayblack.com/atlantic-theater-company-premieres-skeleton-crew/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/atlantic-theater-company-premieres-skeleton-crew/#respond Thu, 07 Jan 2016 21:11:46 +0000 http://broadwayblack.com/?p=12067 She’s won the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, received the Steinberg Playwright Award, and Huffington Post hailed her as a “direct heir to the magical wordsmiths named Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson.” Lofty accolades for a self-proclaimed “Detroit girl with a Brooklyn undertone.” Yet, playwright and actress Dominique […]

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]]> She’s won the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, received the Steinberg Playwright Award, and Huffington Post hailed her as a “direct heir to the magical wordsmiths named Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson.” Lofty accolades for a self-proclaimed “Detroit girl with a Brooklyn undertone.” Yet, playwright and actress Dominique Morisseau is just starting her ascendance to the top of the theiatre world. Her play, Skeleton Crew, the final installment in her trilogy of plays about her hometown of Detroit, will open on January 6, 2016 at the Atlantic Stage 2 Theater.

Skeleton Crew is a tale about how a makeshift family of workers at the last exporting auto plant in the city navigate the possibility of foreclosure. Power dynamics shift and they are pushed to the limits of survival. When the line between blue collar and white collar gets blurred, how far over the lines are they willing to step?

The production’s cast includes Jason Dirden (12 Angry Men, A Raisin In The Sun, Fences), Lynda Gravatt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Doubt, King Hedley II, 45 Seconds from Broadway), Adesola Osakalumi (Fela!, Fela! The Concert, Equus), Nikiya Mathis, and Wendell B. Franklin.

Actor, director, and Obie Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson is directing the play. Santiago-Hudson also directed the second installment of the trilogy, Paradise Blue, which was staged last summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival. The first installment of Morisseau’s trilogy, Detroit ’67, ran at the Public Theater in 2013.

Morisseau is a recent PoNY (Playwright of New York) fellow, and also wrote Sunset Baby, Follow Me To Nellie’s, and Blood At The Root. Her work has been published in N.Y. Times bestseller “Chicken Soup for the African American Soul” and in the Harlem-based literary journal “Signifyin’ Harlem.” She is a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award honoree, a two-time NAACP Image Award recipient, and winner of the Stavis Playwriting Award.

Santiago-Hudson is a noted actor and playwright who has appeared on Broadway in Jelly’s Last Jam and Stick Fly. He received a Tony Award for his performance in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. In 2001, Santiago-Hudson wrote Lackawanna Blues, an autobiographical play in which he portrayed himself and some twenty different characters from his past. He adapted it for an award-winning 2005 HBO film starring Hill Harper, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Terrance Howard.

In 2013, Santiago-Hudson won an Obie Award for Direction and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play for his work in the Off-Broadway production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.

Skeleton will run through February 14, 2016. Tickets for the production can be purchased here.

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/atlantic-theater-company-premieres-skeleton-crew/feed/ 0 12067 Inspirational Quotes For The Black Theatre Lover https://www.broadwayblack.com/inspirational-quotes-black-theatre-lover/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/inspirational-quotes-black-theatre-lover/#respond Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:34:43 +0000 http://broadwayblack.com/?p=8065 Photo Credit: Martha Swope via NYPL Black theatre. A space of inspired creativity, performance art and social commentary on the lives of everyday people. As the curtains open and our stories unfold, we are transported to a place where our dreams and realities intermingle with song, dance and powerful dialogue. When the curtains close and the […]

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Black theatre. A space of inspired creativity, performance art and social commentary on the lives of everyday people. As the curtains open and our stories unfold, we are transported to a place where our dreams and realities intermingle with song, dance and powerful dialogue. When the curtains close and the theatre goes dark, we are left with emotions, memories, images and often quotes that reflect the highs and lows of African American existence.

Let’s take a moment and revisit, in no particular order, ten inspirational quotes from some of our favorite pieces.

  1. On loving one another:

“There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” – Loraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

  1. Beginning a journey into the unknown:

“Count your blessings, cut your losses and follow the yellow brick road.” –The Wiz

  1. Because sometimes your dreams are right there in front of you:

“Ev’ry man has his own special dream. And your dream’s just about to come true. Life’s not as bad as it may seem, if you open your eyes to what’s in front of you!” –Dreamgirls

  1. On choices:

“When the sins of our fathers visit us, we do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness as God, in His Largeness and Laws.” ― August Wilson, Fences

  1. On our own divinity:

“I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way…I can’t apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to… We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful…We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.” – Alice Walker, The Color Purple

  1. On relaxing and enjoying the moment:

“Summertime, and the living is easy.” –Porgy and Bess

  1. On learning to love yourself:

“I found god in myself and I loved her. I loved her fiercely” –Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf

  1. On personal empowerment and survival:

“I’m poor, black; I may even be ugly. But dear God! I’m here! I’m here! –Alice Walker, The Color Purple

  1. On getting yourself together to fulfill your potential:

“Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than you have become; take your place in the circle of life.” –The Lion King

  1. On being okay with starting over:

“I ain’t never found no place for me to fit. Seem like all I do is start over. It ain’t nothing to find no starting place in the world. You just start from where you find yourself.” ― August Wilson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

 

Now, tell us what are some of your favorite inspirational quotes from African American theatre? Drop your favorites in the comments!

 

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/inspirational-quotes-black-theatre-lover/feed/ 0 8065 Project1VOICE Presents Its Annual Celebration 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY June 15 https://www.broadwayblack.com/project1voice-june-15/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/project1voice-june-15/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2015 03:26:44 +0000 http://broadwayblack.com/?p=6778 On June 15, Project1Voice will mark the fifth year that it has presented their international salute to American theatre, 1Voice/1Play/1Day. The mission of Project1Voice is to strengthen and promote African American theatre and playwrights. Project1Voice will have more than thirty performances, always on the third Monday in June, and they are expanding their mission this year to […]

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]]> On June 15, Project1Voice will mark the fifth year that it has presented their international salute to American theatre, 1Voice/1Play/1Day. The mission of Project1Voice is to strengthen and promote African American theatre and playwrights. Project1Voice will have more than thirty performances, always on the third Monday in June, and they are expanding their mission this year to celebrate.

HOME by Samrev 7 home head final 2bm Art Williams is a lyrical play that tells the coming of age story of orphan Cephus Miles of small town Crossroads, North Carolina. Even though Cephus lives what cannot be described as anything less than a whirlwind life, he is still joyous and full of optimism that his quest to discover something deeper will be fulfilled. Cephus eventually leaves Crossroads for the big city after learning that his betrothed Pattie Mae has decided to marry another man, a more well off professional. Throughout his struggles in the big city, being a Vietnam war resister, and returning home to his small town after desegregation, we see the story of a man gaining wisdom in a world that does not always make sense.

HOME by Samm-Art Williams NYC-Manhattan Monday June 15th at 7PM
directed by Michele Shay
Starring Elain Graham, S. Epatha Merkerson, Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Harlem Hospital Pavilion

On the same day Project1Voice will hold another reading for afternoon theatergoers:Happy Ending Project1Voice

Just when you thought going HOME was enough on Monday, June 15th here’s your HAPPY ENDING. This NYC ONLY staged reading of HAPPY ENDING is especially for the capitalistically efficient daytime theater goer.

HAPPY ENDING and DAY of ABSENCE–two one act plays–premiered at St. Marks Place November 1965. This was the genesis of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).

Arthur French (A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL w/Cicely Tyson) one of the original 13 NEC members–reprises the role he performed 50 years ago. Also featuring Lizan Mitchell, Brandon Gill and NEC alum Ebony Jo-Ann.

Directed by Timothy Douglas

Now that’s a real HAPPY ENDING at 2PM!

 

Project1Voice also did Ntozake Shange’s  choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf last year. The piece is a series of twenty poems that are choreographed to music (hence, “choreopoem”) performed by seven African American women that are only named by the color that they are assigned.  The subject matter includes abandonment, rape, abortion, domestic violence, and HIV/AIDS. This play first debuted on Broadway in 1976 and Shange was the second African American woman playwright to be produced on Broadway, second only to Lorraine Hansberry with A Raisin in the Sun.

To find out more about how to view the Manhattan staged reading visit Project1Voice.org or the Project1Voice: HOME Facebook event page and listen to the Founder/CEO and President of Project1Voice, Erich McMillian-Mcall, here:

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/project1voice-june-15/feed/ 0 6778 On Today: A Raisin In The Sun Opened On Broadway https://www.broadwayblack.com/today-raisin-sun-opened-broadway/ https://www.broadwayblack.com/today-raisin-sun-opened-broadway/#respond Thu, 12 Mar 2015 02:23:02 +0000 http://broadwayblack.com/?p=4927 A RAISIN IN THE SUN Keep your eyes glued to @BroadwayBlack for the rest of the day as we honor #LorraineHansberry and her CLASSIC play #ARaisinInTheSun. — Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015 On this day in #BroadwayBlackHistory, in 1959 — Lorraine Hansberry’s classic #ARaisinInTheSun opened on Broadway. pic.twitter.com/VCABzIJEZG — Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, […]

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A RAISIN IN THE SUN

Keep your eyes glued to @BroadwayBlack for the rest of the day as we honor #LorraineHansberry and her CLASSIC play #ARaisinInTheSun.

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

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]]> https://www.broadwayblack.com/today-raisin-sun-opened-broadway/feed/ 0 4927