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.

The post A Dream Realized: On This Day In Black Theatre History A Raisin In the Sun Debuts on Broadway appeared first on Broadway Black.

Summers, who’s best known for creating and producing Off-Broadway’s From My Hometown: A Rag To Riches Celebration of the American Dream In Classic Rhythm & Blues, made his Broadway debut in the original production of Dreamgirls. Since then, he has appeared Off-Broadway in Miss Marguarita’s Way with Estelle Parsons, as an original cast member of From My Hometown, in the musical Little Ham, as well as in numerous cabaret and regional performances.

As a director, Summers has directed shows in venues ranging from New York’s Urban Stages, AMAS Musical Theatre, New World Stages, The Triad Theatre, Flushing Town Hall, Theatreworks in Palo Alto, CA, The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and many more.

A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, where it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. The American classic takes place in the late 1950’s on Chicago’s South Side, and revolves around the dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son “Walter Lee,” his wife “Ruth,” his sister “Beneatha,” his son “Travis,” and family matriarch “Lena,” called “Mama.”

The Harlem Repertory Theatre is a professional theatre company based in the heart of Harlem in New York City, founded by Keith Lee Grant. The Harlem Repertory Theatre will run the play every Friday at 7pm until December 11th. The theatre’s resident acting company includes Mario C. Brown, Kyria Geneva, Mabel Gomez, Roberto A. Guzman Jr., Jarrid Jones, Bianca Madison, Derrick Montalvo, Eric “Le Roy” Myles, and Joe Sabateur.

For information on tickets and directions, visit www.harlemrepertorytheatre.com.

The first Broadway revival of the play ran at the Royale Theatre from April 26, 2004 to July 11, 2004. The cast included Sean Combs as “Walter Lee,” Phylicia Rashad as “Lena,” Audra McDonald as “Ruth,” and Sanaa Lathan as “Beneatha.” It was directed by Kenny Leon and received two Tony awards: Best Actress in a Play (Rashad) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (McDonald).

A second revival ran ten years later from April 3, 2014 to June 15, 2014 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with Denzel Washington in the lead role of “Walter Lee.” Other cast members included Sophie Okonedo as “Ruth,” LaTanya Richardson Jackson as “Lena,” and Anika Noni Rose as “Beneatha.” Leon again directed and the play won three 2014 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Play, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Okonedo) and Best Direction of a Play (Leon).

The post A Raisin in the Sun at Harlem Repertory Theatre appeared first on Broadway Black.

Joining Okonedo in the cast will be; Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) as “John Proctor”, Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) as “Abigail Williams”, and Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones) as “Deputy Governor Danforth”. Philip Glass will compose the production’s original score.

The Crucible is set in the tight-knit, Puritan town of Salem. The plot is described as the following: “In the tight-knit, Puritan town of Salem, a group of girls are discovered dancing in the woods and then immediately fall ill. When no earthly cause can be identified, fear and suspicion begin to percolate in the small, isolated community, that something larger, more fearsome, and other worldly may be to blame. Buried secrets and resentments are brought to light, and attempts to root out evil lead to finger-pointing, treachery, and betrayal. When everyone is a suspect, sometimes the most dangerous threat to the community may be the community itself.”

The play first appeared on Broadway in 1953 in a production at the Martin Beck Theatre. It has since then seen four revivals, the most recent was a 2002 production featuring an all star cast that included Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, and Kristen Bell.

This production makes Sophie Okonedo the first black woman to take on the role of “Elizabeth Proctor” in Broadway history and perhaps that exactly what producers wanted. According to the casting notice’s breakdown on Actors Equity, the production was “seeking a diverse company. Unless specifically stated, characters are any ethnicity.”

Sound off in the comments below, how do we feel? I’ll tell you one thing, this year’s 2016 Tony Awards, I feel, will see a Broadway Black takeover. Watch Okonedo’s Tony Award acceptance speech below, as well.

The post Sophie Okonedo Leads the New Broadway Revival of The Crucible appeared first on Broadway Black.

It’s only fitting that Leon serve on this committee, as he has enjoyed an exceptional and creative career on Broadway and in regional theatre. Leon won the Best Director of a Play Tony for 2014’s A Raisin in the Sun with Denzel Washington and Sophie Okonedo. Ten years before that, he made his Broadway debut with the same play, directing Sean Combs, Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad.

In addition to A Raisin in the Sun, Leon’s Broadway credits include The Mountaintop starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, August Wilson’s Fences (which garnered 10 Tony nominations and won three Tony Awards including Best Revival), and the 2014 premiere of Holler if You Hear Me, a musical created using the music of Tupac Shakur.

Leon rose to prominence in 1988 as one of the few African Americans to head a notable nonprofit theater company as the artistic director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre Company. During his tenure, the company staged premieres of Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky, Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and Elton John and Tim Rice’s musical Aida, which went on to Broadway. The Alliance’s endowment also rose from $1 to $5 million during his tenure.

After resigning from the Alliance, Leon co-founded Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre in Atlanta and currently serves as its the artistic director. Since its opening, the company has staged productions of The Wiz, Black Nativity, Miss Evers’ Boys, The Colored Museum and Spunk among others. It also boasts Hollywood and Broadway heavy hitters such as Reuben Cannon, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Courtney B. Vance and Phylicia Rashad on its Board of Trustees and Advisory Board.

Leon is also noted for his work in television, including “In My Dreams” for Hallmark Hall of Fame, “The Watsons go to Birmingham” for Walden Media and Hallmark, and the Sony and Lifetime TV adaptation of “Steel Magnolias”. Leon is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2010 Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing by the Drama League of New York.

On working with Leon, Cleage once told National Public Radio, “He isn’t really someone who’s trying to superimpose a flashy vision, so that people will gasp and say ‘Oh, the director was this and the director was that,’ He’s actually trying to get to the heart — the real heart — of these people that the playwright has created.”

In addition to Leon, actress Tamara Tunie serves on The American Theatre Wing Advisory Committee and LaTanya Richardson Jackson is a member of its Board of Trustees.

The post Director Kenny Leon Wins Again; Appointed To ATW Advisory Committee appeared first on Broadway Black.

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, 2015

The 1959 production of #ARaisinInTheSun starred Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands & @GlynnTurman. pic.twitter.com/ep1oxFSyjk

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

#ARaisinInTheSun marked the first time a play written by, and directed by a Black person, and about Black people was produced on #Broadway.

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle named #ARaisinInTheSun the best play of 1959.

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

#ARaisinInTheSun was nom’d in 4 categories at @TheTonyAwards in ’60. Best Play, Best Actor & Actress in a Play, Best Direction of a Play.

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

In 1961 a film version of #ARaisinInTheSun feat. the original Broadway cast was released. Hansberry wrote the script. pic.twitter.com/ruZnm0evK3

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

A musical version of #ARaisinInTheSun starring @JOEtheMORTON & @MsDebbieAllen took #Broadway by storm in 1973. pic.twitter.com/C25Ad4nxX3

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

#PhyliciaRashad, @AudraEqualityMc, & @justSanaa starred in a ’04 revival directed by @iamKENNYLEON. #ARaisinInTheSun. pic.twitter.com/BJKeVDi6Tj

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

#DenzelWashington, @AnikaNoniRose, #SophieOkonedo star in new @iamKENNYLEON-directed revival (’14). #ARaisinInTheSun. pic.twitter.com/u6Y1GEJNPu

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

The revival of #ARaisinInTheSun won Best Revival of a Play at @TheTonyAwards in 2014. Look at @AnikaNoniRose BEAMING! pic.twitter.com/K4HaueFEu1

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

#PhyliciaRashad is the 1st Black actress to win as Best Actress (Play) at @TheTonyAwards for #ARaisinInTheSun in ’04. pic.twitter.com/tOu85VHwu2

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 11, 2015

.@iamKENNYLEON took home his 1st Tony for Best Direction of a Play at @TheTonyAwards in 2014. #ARaisinInTheSun. pic.twitter.com/5Mki8GiBqq

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 12, 2015

#SophieOkonedo took home the Actress in a Featured Role medallion at @TheTonyAwards in 2014. #ARaisinInTheSun. pic.twitter.com/6HHsFxjL08

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 12, 2015

Thank you #LorraineHansberry, for your timeless classic #ARaisinInTheSun. We love and honor you today and everyday. pic.twitter.com/ZeR1WVlPXC

— Broadway Black (@BroadwayBlack) March 12, 2015

The post On Today: A Raisin In The Sun Opened On Broadway appeared first on Broadway Black.