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| 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. |
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),
Richard Romeo (Joseph Asagai, Bobo), Brandon Balque (George Murchison),
Tre’ Whitney (Travis), Whitney Burleson (Mrs. Johnson), and Gabriel Smith
(Karl Linder). The production will be co-designed by Andy Berkovsky and Daniel
LeFave with costumes by Jessi Brill and Bert Flanagan.
TICKETS AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
February 25 – March 21
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),
Richard Romeo (Joseph Asagai, Bobo), Brandon Balque (George Murchison),
Tre’ Whitney (Travis), Whitney Burleson (Mrs. Johnson), and Gabriel Smith
(Karl Linder). The production will be co-designed by Andy Berkovsky and Daniel
LeFave with costumes by Jessi Brill and Bert Flanagan.
TICKETS AND PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
February 25 – March 21
| THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF LORRAINE HANSBERRY’S UNFORGETTABLE PLAY A RAISIN IN THE SUN |