A Raisin in the Sun
By Adam Langer
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A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by an African-American woman to appear on Broadway (and anyone who can name the most recent Broadway play by an African-American woman should get some kind of prize). But Hansberry tends to get short shrift in discussions of Chicago writers. For one thing, she died young, at the age of 34 in 1965, so her output was relatively small, and she achieved most of her fame on the east coast because she left Chicago at 20 for Greenwich Village and later lived in Westchester County. But also her plays don’t feature the usual posse of salt-of-the-earth white men so popular in Chicago literature. The closest Raisin has to offer from the Mametian/Terkelian/Roykovian universe is the racist leader of a local housing committee who tries to bribe the Younger family to stay out of his neighborhood.
Goodman’s revival shows that more than 40 years after the play premiered, A Raisin in the Sun remains a vital, painfully relevant work. It reflects on two key themes informing practically every play in the pantheon of Great American Dramas, from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and The Price to August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson: honoring or taking advantage of a family legacy, and moving in social terms as well as geographically. When family matriarch Lena Younger receives ten thousand dollars in insurance after her husband dies, she must choose between investing in a risky business venture endorsed by her son, Walter Lee, a chauffeur with dreams of making it big in the liquor business, and buying a house in a safe, almost all white neighborhood far from the Youngers’ cramped, cockroach-infested apartment.
Though the cast is largely made up of children–Robert Hines plays the hermit–this YMCA production is surprisingly strong and assured. This is the sort of youth theater that makes you scan the program for the name of the director. In this case it’s Tiffany Trent: her superb use of the cast combined with stunningly professional set and lighting designs have produced a top-notch staging. Who the audience might be is uncertain, however: the script seems too preachy and static for younger viewers yet will most likely be a bit familiar and obvious to adults.
