‘Raisin in the Sun’ a hit at Cleveland Play House
11/20/2008 - West Side Leader
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| Lena Younger (Franchelle Stewart Dorn) informs her son, Walter Lee Younger (David Alan Anderson), that a $10,000 insurance check has arrived in Cleveland Play House’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” |
| Photo: Peter Jennings |
A critic for The New York Times wrote the play “changed American theater forever.”
This was the first play by an African-American woman playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, to play on Broadway — and it was a great success. The original cast included many distinguished performers: Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett Jr., Diana Sands and Sidney Poitier.
“A Raisin in the Sun” continues to be a success — in fact, only in the past two years has another Broadway version been successful, receiving Tony Awards, and a film with that Broadway cast shown on television.
Now, “A Raisin in the Sun” is in a successful run in the Drury Theatre at The Cleveland Play House.
When I saw the show last week, the audience filled the theater. The demand for seats might outreach what the Drury Theatre can provide.
The title of the play comes from “Harlem,” a poem by Langston Hughes: “What happens to a dream deferred?/Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?”
Each of the characters has a dream deferred.
Lena Younger (Franchelle Stewart Dorn), the matriarch of the family, dreams of a house with a yard and without a shared bathroom (shared with people in neighboring apartments).
Walter Lee Younger (David Alan Anderson), her son, wants to open a liquor store with some of his buddies.
Beneatha Younger (Bakesta King), Lena’s daughter, is a successful college student who wants to attend medical school.
As the play opens, the family anxiously awaits the arrival of a $10,000 life insurance check for Lena’s husband, who recently died. That check can make several dreams come true.
Lena controls the family’s purse strings, but she wants Walter Lee to assume his role as the take-charge male in the house. Walter Lee, however, is a dreamer who wants the fast buck and fast success.
Lena slips away for a day and makes a down payment on a house that is perfect for her family. That down payment causes problems for the Younger family because that house is in a traditionally all-white section of Chicago.
Soon, the Younger family receives a visit from Karl Lindner (Patrick O’Brien), a representative of the housing association where Lena bought the house. The white neighbors want to buy the house from the Younger family at a significant profit.
As the play progresses, the members of the Younger family find themselves attacked from without and within.
These attacks help each character make decisions about his or her life. What does each want to do with his or her life, and what is the legacy that will be passed on to Travis Younger (Aric Generette Floyd), the son of Walter Lee?
Hansberry wrote this stunning view of family life more than 50 years ago. Many critics and audiences have commented on this play as an excellent study of African-American life in the mid-1950s. Certainly, some elements are specifically African-American, but Hansberry was such a good writer that she gave this script a universality that makes it applicable to families of all races — people who have dreams and who have dreams deferred.
The cast is uniformly excellent. Dorn dominates the stage with her presence. She has a powerful voice that rolls out into the house and across the audience. She makes all of us better people by her excellent work.
Director Lou Bellamy helps his actors make the action rise and fall and rise to new heights. He is helped by the cast and by scenic designer Vicki Smith, who created a cramped Chicago apartment, choked by apartment buildings in the background. The little apartment shows the kitchen, the eating area and a sofa-centered living area. Beyond pocket-doors, the audience can see one small bedroom.
This production is visually exciting.
Costume designer Matthew LeFebvre dressed the cast in clothing appropriate for the early 1950s. LeFebvre gives Beneatha, who wants to return to Africa and find her roots, headpieces and dresses printed with traditional African designs.
“A Raisin in the Sun” has changed American theater, and this stimulating production has the potential to change Cleveland theater.
The Cleveland Play House has made an effort to be audience friendly with its show times. For ticket availability, call (216) 795-7000, ext. 4, or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
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