Theatre Review - By Jack Melichar

The Arizona Theatre Company presents A RAISIN IN THE SUN, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. It opened on Broadway in 1959 making Ms Hansberry the first African-American woman to have her work performed on the "Great White Way." The play was also awarded the Drama Critics Circle Award for best play, and she is currently the only African-American playwright to be so honored.

Set in Chicago in the 1950's, we are given a sense of what is was like to live in a segregated nation. The story centers on an African-American family, the Youngers, and their hopes and dreams for a better future – perhaps a home of their own with sunlight and open air, or an opportunity to attend medical school or a chance to have their own business. After the demise of the patriarchal Mr. Younger, the arrival of a $10,000 insurance check has the entire family debating what to do with the money.

Throughout the play, they discuss the different possibilities, as well as their hopes and fears for the future. When Mama chooses to put a down payment on a house in an all white community, a soon-to-be neighbor visits the Younger household. In an act of ignorance and "subconscious" racism, he and the rest of the white home owners association offer the family money if they would be willing to move out of the community. The Youngers must then decide: do they stay or go?

Lorraine Hansberry knew about disappointment, false hope, and despair. Many of her African-American ancestors had moved North to enjoy a better life only to find exploitation and frustration. Their dreams had become nightmares. Her screenplay not only tells the story of the Youngers but reveals the plight of all who have failed to achieve their dreams.

The play is also part autobiographical. Hansberry's father, Carl Hansberry, moved his family to a white suburban Illinois community, whereupon the Caucasian neighbors began harassing, threatening, and eventually assaulting the Hansberry family.

He ultimately sued the discriminating neighbors, and the case was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court where he won. Unfortunately, residential segregation continued to exist in the North for some time to come.

The performance is almost three hours long, but it is so well written and superbly acted that the time seems to fly, and I found myself wishing there was more to come. Once again, ATC has done an outstanding job – this time bringing a true American classic to Tucson. Congratulations!

A RAISIN IN THE SUN will play at the Temple of Music and Art now thru January 31. Call (520) 622-2823 or go online to Arizona Theatre Company "The play that changed American theatre forever…a seething interplay of past and present, of wisdom and passion."
– The New York Times

Just a bit of an aside. The opening of the play last Friday (Jan. 16) could not have been better timed with the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on the 19th and the inauguration of America's first African-American president on the 20th.