| The City Theatre Company |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3823 Airport Blvd. Suite D, 78722 512-524-2870 info@citytheatreaustin.org |
| The City Theatre is the city's theater, a world class performing arts venue established for Austin directors, designers and performers who have one goal: the continued excellence in stage performances and the desire to bring that quality, committment, and service to the central Texas theatrical community. |
| February 25 - March 21 |
The City Theatre Company is proud to present the unforgettable production of
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Lisa Jordan. Called “a
milestone in American theatre,” this presentation marks the 50th anniversary of
the show’s groundbreaking Broadway opening and is part of Black History month.
The shows four week run will be presented February 25 – March 21 at The City
Theatre.
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the
sun?” - Langston Hughes
A recent widow, Lena Younger wants to use her husband's insurance money to buy
a home for her family, freeing them from the cramped tenement in which they live.
Her son, Walter Lee is determined to invest the money in a business - an opportunity
for him to be his own man. Lena refuses; in her eyes a house is a sturdy thing to
build a dream on. But when a white representative of the neighborhood "welcoming
committee" presents them with an offer to buy them out of their home, the dream
quickly becomes a nightmare. The Younger family attempts to find his or her place
amidst a number of difficult situations and Walter Lee for the first time begins to
value what money can’t buy, and in the process achieves a new level of self respect
and pride.
For A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry drew from an incident in her own childhood that
profoundlyaffected her family’s life. In defiance of real estate contracts of that era
that barred blacks from certain neighborhoods, her father moved his family to an all-
white area. Mobs gathered outside the new home, and 8-year-old Lorraine was
almost struck by a brick hurled through a window. The family was finally evicted but
Carl Hansberry and NAACP lawyers fought the state court decision all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court, ultimately winning a landmark decision prohibiting restrictive
housing. Hansberry would later write “it will help a lot of people understand that we
have among our downtrodden ranks people who are the very essence of human
dignity. That is what – after all the laughter and the tears – the play is supposed to
say.” A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959, lauded by The New York
Times as a show that “changed American theater forever.” For the first time in
history a production hailed an all-black principal cast, a black director and a black
playwright. Its 29-year-old author became the youngest American and the first black
playwright to win the New York Drama Critics’ Best Play of the Year citation. The
original film starred Sidney Poitier with the new Broadway and film version starring
Phylicia Rashad and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Marking its 50th anniversary, A Raisin
in the Sun brings to life the inspiring classic story about a working class black family
struggling to make it in America.
The cast features Michelle Alexander (Lean Younger), McArthur Moore (Walter
Lee Younger), Kristen Bennett (Ruth), Jessica Bacon (Beneatha), Jerred Tetty
(Joseph Asagai), Brandon Balque (George Murchison), Tre’ Whitney (Travis),
Ben Woods (Bobo), and Gabriel Smith (Karl Linder).
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Lisa Jordan. Called “a
milestone in American theatre,” this presentation marks the 50th anniversary of
the show’s groundbreaking Broadway opening and is part of Black History month.
The shows four week run will be presented February 25 – March 21 at The City
Theatre.
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the
sun?” - Langston Hughes
A recent widow, Lena Younger wants to use her husband's insurance money to buy
a home for her family, freeing them from the cramped tenement in which they live.
Her son, Walter Lee is determined to invest the money in a business - an opportunity
for him to be his own man. Lena refuses; in her eyes a house is a sturdy thing to
build a dream on. But when a white representative of the neighborhood "welcoming
committee" presents them with an offer to buy them out of their home, the dream
quickly becomes a nightmare. The Younger family attempts to find his or her place
amidst a number of difficult situations and Walter Lee for the first time begins to
value what money can’t buy, and in the process achieves a new level of self respect
and pride.
For A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry drew from an incident in her own childhood that
profoundlyaffected her family’s life. In defiance of real estate contracts of that era
that barred blacks from certain neighborhoods, her father moved his family to an all-
white area. Mobs gathered outside the new home, and 8-year-old Lorraine was
almost struck by a brick hurled through a window. The family was finally evicted but
Carl Hansberry and NAACP lawyers fought the state court decision all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court, ultimately winning a landmark decision prohibiting restrictive
housing. Hansberry would later write “it will help a lot of people understand that we
have among our downtrodden ranks people who are the very essence of human
dignity. That is what – after all the laughter and the tears – the play is supposed to
say.” A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959, lauded by The New York
Times as a show that “changed American theater forever.” For the first time in
history a production hailed an all-black principal cast, a black director and a black
playwright. Its 29-year-old author became the youngest American and the first black
playwright to win the New York Drama Critics’ Best Play of the Year citation. The
original film starred Sidney Poitier with the new Broadway and film version starring
Phylicia Rashad and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Marking its 50th anniversary, A Raisin
in the Sun brings to life the inspiring classic story about a working class black family
struggling to make it in America.
The cast features Michelle Alexander (Lean Younger), McArthur Moore (Walter
Lee Younger), Kristen Bennett (Ruth), Jessica Bacon (Beneatha), Jerred Tetty
(Joseph Asagai), Brandon Balque (George Murchison), Tre’ Whitney (Travis),
Ben Woods (Bobo), and Gabriel Smith (Karl Linder).
| THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF LORRAINE HANSBERRY’S UNFORGETTABLE A RAISIN IN THE SUN |
| ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Show, Authors, and Photos |