As I sat house left at Court Theatre’s performance of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, waiting for the lights to dim, audience members snapped and sang along under their breath to the songs playing throughout the theater. From the familiar music to a period set unlike any I’d ever seen, the show pulled in the audience from the moment they entered the theater. Suddenly, we were in a hot summer of mid-1950s Chicago.
The production follows the destitute Younger family as they aspire to a better life in the South Side of Chicago. When Walter Younger Sr. passes, and a $10,000 life insurance check arrives, their dreams come within reach—but can they be realized? A Raisin in the Sun seeks to answer poet Langston Hughes’s famous question, “What happens to a dream deferred?”
Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent explores this question through the staging, direction, and production of A Raisin in the Sun. The play opens gently, soft light spilling through the apartment windows as the Younger family prepares for the day. The small set, minimalist yet immersive, evokes the Chicago of the 1950s. Grayscale scenes of urban life hang from the ceiling, surrounding the apartment. The chirping of birds and distant voices of children playing in the street frame a brief moment of quiet before the morning bustle of the Younger household begins. A literal seedling of hope grows in their windowsill as the play starts.
The plot follows each of the Younger family members’ individual ambitions. Walter Lee Younger (Brian Keys) wants to open a liquor store. Ruth Younger (Kierra Bunch) yearns for a home for her growing family. Beneatha Younger (Martasia Jones) longs for education. Travis Younger (played alternatingly by Jeremias Darville and Di’Aire Wilson), still a little boy, has no choice but to follow along with the dreams that his family creates for him. Lena “Mama” Younger (Shanésia Davis) longs for a home for her family, and space for a garden. She has clung to this desire for the years that she has lived in the cramped apartment, tending to her hope just as she tends to the small plant in the windowsill.
But it becomes increasingly clear that the family’s aspirations, when not watered and encouraged properly, wither. Walter Lee’s dream grows bitter as Mama’s dream flourishes. Mama’s maternal positivity throughout the production is infectious, bringing the audience closer to her character and backstory as she deals with the problems faced by her children. Ruth confronts her dream, similar to that of Mama’s, with realism and the knowledge that her hard work may never pay off. The differing ambitions of each character help the audience members attach themselves to those they empathize with and relate to, pulling them into the narrative while encouraging them to create biases and reflect on what it means to love and hope.
How does hope grow? How is it possible to defer a dream for so long, with no returns and no end in sight, without crumbling? Decades pass in which the seedling of hope remains stagnant in the windowsill, but Mama keeps it alive through deep devotion to God (and a little bit of water). Her dream stays alive through the disappointments, through the mistakes, and through the struggles. Shanésia Davis’s performance as Mama is truly stunning and makes apparent the weight of the character’s goals as they crumble in front of her. Mama’s evocative storytelling not only illuminates the struggles she has endured but also the pain felt when a life of struggling and working is given all away in one day.
I first attended the show during previews, when it was still a work in progress. I loved the show during my first viewing, despite its future adjustments. After each preview performance, audience members were given the opportunity to speak their minds. It was moving to listen to what they had to say about the production, especially those who were alive for the epoch in which A Raisin in the Sun was written. I liked hearing how some of them personally remembered living as the Youngers did in Chicago.
One audience member remarked that they liked that the character of Mrs. Johnson (J. Nicole Brooks) was not omitted from the story, as she often is in other productions. She is usually seen as unnecessary plot-wise, simply adding to the setting of the play. But in this production, she is loud, rambunctious, and nosy, poking into the lives of the Youngers very briefly to warn them about acting upon their dreams, bringing them back down to earth as she reminds them of the world they live in. Despite her negativity, the audience member continued, Mrs. Johnson is a refreshing distraction from the heaviness of the play, acting as a Greek chorus as she flits in and out of the Younger house, making the audience both laugh and groan. This and other comments added to my experience immensely when I attended my second viewing of the show. The story is enhanced by the minutiae observed by audience members and the reality of the details provided by firsthand experiences.
The bittersweet story of A Raisin in the Sun extends far beyond the eyes of traditional theatergoers in this way. The story is brought back to us over and over again in Chicago. In fact, it is shocking that this is the first time the show has been performed at the Court Theatre, which is situated just 1.3 miles north of Lorraine Hansberry’s childhood home. One can’t help but wonder about the pride Hansberry would have felt, knowing that her labor of love is still being performed in the very neighborhood that helped shape her vision.
The responsibility of portraying Hansberry’s vision of Chicago life was not taken lightly by the cast and crew of this production. The actors utilized vocal coaches and research associated with the dialect and history of 1950s Chicago to give the production the most authentic version of Hansberry’s Chicago, Randle-Bent explained during the previews. As a result, the story speaks to those who have known the struggles of financial hardship, racial injustice, and the heavy inheritance of generational dreams.
Even those who struggled to engage with the play in high school English classes will find something to connect with through Randle-Bent’s staging. More than anything, though, the story speaks to the proud community members who love this city and who celebrate the history of what it means to be Black in the United States.
