A Raisin in the SunBy Lorraine Hansberry

Important Facts and

How to Read a Play

Important Facts

• Produced in 1959

– Foretold the revolution in black consciousness and…

• …foretold the revolution in women’s consciousness

Why do you think this play dealt with these issues?

Meet Lorraine Hansberry

We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,Grayed in, and gray. "Dream“ makes a giddy sound, not strongLike "rent," "feeding a wife," "satisfying a man."

Important Themes (look for similar issues in other pieces of

literature)

Value systems within families, particularly the black

family

Concepts of African American beauty vs. European beauty

Concepts of African American identity

Class and generational conflicts

The relationships of husbands and wives

The relationships between men and women

Rising feminism

The difference between what it means to be

African American vs. African

A series of FIRSTS

• The first play brought to Broadway by a black woman (young and unknown)

• Directed by a young black unknown director (Lloyd Richards)

• There had never been a serious commercially successful black drama

• Shown in a theatre with few black audience members…

• AND IT WAS A HIT!!!

Analyzing Literature

Look at the book now…

• What is one of the things we should ask ourselves right now, before we’ve even read the play?

The significance of the TITLE

• From a poem by Langston Hughes.

• Title: “Harlem”

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat…

What happens if you DON’T get your DREAM?

How to read a play

Check the CAST LIST

• Can you tell anything about the relationship of the characters based on the cast list?

• Ruth Younger• Travis Younger• Walter Lee Younger

(Brother)• Beneatha Younger

(Sister)• Lena Younger

(Mama)

Check the SETTING

• Does the setting give you any clues about the story?

• Does the time period give you any clues?

• Over what period of time does the action take place?

• Set on Chicago’s Southside, sometime between World War I and the present…

Why do you think it’s such a wide range of time?

• See your book…

Read the DIRECTOR’S NOTES

• The italicized parts interspersed throughout the play

• They give you IMPORTANT INFORMATION about the set, characters, and movements of characters.

• They tell you HOW A LINE IS SAID, which gives you more information about the characters

STAGE RIGHT, CENTER, LEFT, Proscenium, Leg, Border

UP STAGE vs. DOWN STAGE

Check your stage knowledge• Up stage

• Down stage• Proscenium• Stage left• Stage right• Leg• Border

You’re ready to read!!!