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Who's Who

According to the 1950 census, nAtionAlly: African-American men earned, on average, .59¢ to every $1 a white man earned.African-American men earned, on average, $1,761 annually, while white men earned $2,985 annually on average.African-American women earned, on average, .56¢ to every $1 a white woman earned. African-American women earned, on average, $992 annually, while white women earned $1,782 annually on average.

According to the 1960 census (one year after the fictional Clybourne Park’s first act):in Chicago, 76.4% of the population was white, 22.9% was black. By 2009 that ratio had changed to 33.3% white and 32.8% black (with the remainder a mix of races).

in 2006, nAtionAlly: the median household income for African-Americans was $30,134; for Hispanics $34,241; for White, non-Hispanics $48,977; and for Asians $57,518.

Lena Younger (MaMa) The matriarch of the Younger family, Mama is Walter’s and Beneatha’s mother. She is a widow trying to keep her family tied together. played by LIZ MIKEL (1)

WaLter Younger A man with many dreams, Walter is the father of Travis and husband of Ruth. Walter makes impulsive emotional decisions, and drinks away his worries. played by BOWMAN WRIGHT (2)

ruth Younger The strong, quiet mother of Travis, and wife of Walter. Ruth has a sense of pride and dignity, yet is naïve about other race’s views of African-Americans. played by PTOSHA STOREY (3)

travis Younger An average ten-year-old boy with aspirations of being a bus driver one day. Travis is hardworking and playful. played by CHRISTOPHER ADKINS (4) and JUSTISE MAON (5)

Beneatha Younger Walter’s sister Beneatha is a proudly educated woman who is firm on teaching African-Americans about their history. played by TIFFANY HOBBS (6)

Joseph asagai A fellow student of Beneatha’s at college, Asagai is from Africa and he shares a general disdain for all the blacks in America who conform to what white people want. played by JAKEEM POWELL (7)

george Murchison A very wealthy African-American friend of Beneatha’s who tries to win her over romantically. played by OLUWASEUN SOYEMI (8)

KarL Linder A white representative from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. played by STEVEN MICHAEL WALTERS (9)

BoBo Walter’s friend and business partner. played by HASSAN EL-AMIN (10)

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Written as a response to a raisin in the Sun, tony-award© and Pulitzer-Prize winning Clybourne Park by Bruce norris, gives us a glimpse of the other side of the story told by lorraine hansberry. set in two acts, fifty years apart, we see the house the younger family longed to move into in a white suburban neighborhood. We meet the family who offered to sell the house to the youngers and see the aftermath of those negotiations 50 years later. Clybourne Park is an in-your-face conversation about race, real estate and the volatile values of each.

A Raisin in the Sun, by lorraine hansberry, has been called “the play that changed america forever.” the play follows an african-american family—the youngers—as they try to escape the poverty of the south side of chicago and their cramped, dilapidated apartment for a better life in the white suburbs. a raisin in the Sun is unflinching in its vision of what happens to people whose dreams are constantly deferred. nominated for four tony awards®, a raisin in the Sun was the first play by an african-american woman to open on Broadway, and the first Broadway play to be directed by an african-american (lloyd richards).

By LORRAINE HANSBERRYDirected by TRE GARRETT

By BRUCE NORRIS

Directed by JOEL FERRELL

SEP 13 - OCT 27 WYLY THEATRE

russ The owner of 406 Clybourne St. in 1959 who has decided to sell the house and move with his wife Bev. played by CHAMBLEE FERGUSON (11)

Bev The wife of Russ, Bev is often unaware of the impact of her words and actions. She supports the new family coming in no matter their race. played by SALLY NYSTUEN VAHLE (12)

JiM The sometimes overbearing preacher for the Clybourne Park community. played by JACOB STEWART (13)

KarL Linder (also in A Raisin in the Sun): The leader of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He has just visited the Younger family regarding their interest in moving to the neighborhood. played by STEVEN MICHAEL WALTERS (14)

BetsY The somewhat naïve wife of Karl, Betsy is deaf and very pregnant. played by ALLISON PISTORIOUS (15)

Francine The African-American maid for Bev and Russ. She values her dignity. played by TIFFANY HOBBS (16)

aLBert The husband of Francine, Albert is sometimes unaware of racial tension. played by HASSAN EL-AMIN (17)

steve The new white owner of 406 Clybourne St. who wants to tear down the house and build a new one. played by STEVEN MICHAEL WALTERS (18)

LindseY The white, pregnant wife of Steve. played by ALLISON PISTORIOUS (19)

KathY A white real estate lawyer hired to help the renovation process on 406 Clybourne St. played by SALLY NYSTUEN VAHLE (20)

toM A white member of the Owner’s Association leading the meeting concerning the renovations. played by JACOB STEWART (21)

Lena The African-American niece of the first black woman who moved to Clybourne Park in 1959, Lena wants to preserve the building. played by TIFFANY HOBBS (22)

Kevin The African-American husband of Lena, he knows how to play the political game of race. played by HASSAN EL-AMIN (23)

dan A white workman installing pipeline behind the house. played by CHAMBLEE FERGUSON (24)

act i: 1959

act ii: 2009

1 2 3 4 5

6, 16, 22

11, 24

7

12, 20

8

13, 21

9, 14, 18

15, 19

10, 17, 23

the StudyGuide

The Hansberry family home at 6140 S. Rhodes Ave. in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. Hansberry's experiences living in this now historic house were the inspiration for her play, A Raisin in a Sun. And, it's a house such as this that inspired Bruce Norris' response, Clybourne Park.

20132014Season

Lorraine ViVian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois to Carl Augustus Hansberry, a successful real-estate broker, and Nannie Louise Perry, a school teacher. In 1938, Hansberry’s father purchased a house on the south side of Chicago in the Washington Park subdivision — an all white neighborhood — violating a “restrictive covenant” (a type of contract that prohibited an owner of property from reselling, leasing or transferring the property to members of a given race). The tumult from the Hansberry family's move to the subdivision led to the Supreme Court decision of Hansberry v. Lee which reversed previous unsuccessful lawsuits by African-Americans, and determined that restrictive covenants were not a private property matter and could be fought in court. This decision paved the way for the Supreme Court decision of Shelley v. Kraemer which determined that the enforcement of such racially-based restrictive covenants would require the support of law enforcement and the State and is therefore subject to the Bill of Rights, including the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. These decisions paved the way for the desegregation of neighborhoods across the country.

After high school, Hansberry briefly attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but finding college uninspiring, dropped out and moved to New York City to pursue a career as a writer. While attending The New School she worked at the black newspaper Freedom alongside W. E. B. DuBois (one of the co-founders of the NAACP). It was in this time and place that Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun.

In 1959, her play debuted making her the first African-American woman to be produced on Broadway and, at 29 years old, the youngest

American playwright and only the fifth woman to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. During

her career, Lorraine Hansberry wrote essays, articles and plays addressing a myriad of social and racial issues from feminism and racism to homophobia. She died of pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965, at age 34.

Lorraine Hansberry took the title of her play from a poem by Langston Hughes. Originally titled “Harlem”, the poem later became known as “A Dream Deferred”:

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? Or crust and sugar over—Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

and a Dream Deferred

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun heralded an

age of racial integration in America’s cities, as blacks moved into

neighborhoods previously denied to them. And yet, as soon as all-white

neighborhoods began to become integrated, “white flight” began. In

many cities, over the course of the 1960s and '70s, the dream of a

fully integrated America began to disintegrate. As white people fled to

the suburbs, economic resources were shifted away from the cities,

resulting in the poverty, crime, drugs and neglect the followed.

By 2009, fifty years after Hansberry’s groundbreaking play premiered,

American cities had changed again, with many of the now all-black

neighborhoods slowly being “gentrified.” The sprouting up of Whole Foods

and Starbucks in blighted urban neighborhoods signaled the return of

prosperous white families who were reclaiming inner city neighborhoods

as their own, often resulting in a new wave of de-facto segregation.

Even as Americans were celebrating the signs of racial progress

heralded by the 2008 inauguration of Barack Obama as the first

African-American president, others were asking: what are we to

make of these ongoing patterns of racial migration to and from inner

city neighborhoods? Are these signs of hopeful change, or are they

yet another example of “a dream deferred?”

In Clybourne Park,

bruce norris sees

the great changes that

have occurred culturally

and politically since 1959,

but he also sees that many

Americans remain deeply

uncomfortable addressing ongoing racial

tensions. He portrays characters who hide

behind politically correct conversations that

barely cover up, but don’t resolve, the deeply

embedded challenges of the racial divide.

Seen together, A Raisin in the Sun and

Clybourne Park are studies in hope and

despair, change and stasis, the past and

the present, and the great complexities at

the heart of each individual. Though each

play stands firmly on its own as a great

work of art, I hope you will see these plays

in relation to each other, sparking a richer,

more complicated dialogue that will extend

beyond a single evening at the theater.

GenTrifiCATion is a term applied to the economic and social changes that occur when wealthier citizens move into an urban area, usually increasing rent and property values as well as changing the demographics of the area’s residents. The word is usually used in a negative way, because the changes often force poorer, long-time residents who cannot afford the increasing costs of living to move away. Gentrification has gained momentum in recent years because of a renewed interest in urban living as well as “fixing” older properties as investment opportunities. As is the case in Clybourne Park, historical landmarks can also be removed or altered to increase property values by renovators who are not familiar with the cultural significance of such buildings.

A note from dallas theater center’s

Artistic director, Kevin MoriArty

What’s in a Word?

LORRAINE HANSBERRY (1930-1965)

LANGSTON HUGHES(1902-1967)

BRUCE NORRIS

Tying the Plays to Our COmmunityTaken together, A Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park tell the story of one neighborhood and its changing racial and economic demographics over time. The same story can be told in our community in North Texas. Where is your neighborhood in the arc of the story? In which neighborhoods do you see individuals of different races moving in and seeking the American Dream? In which neighborhoods do you see people struggling with that dream deferred?

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava connects West Dallas with the Woodall Rogers Freeway. Business and civic leaders hope the bridge will help spur economic development in West Dallas.