Guthrie Theater

This award-winning drama tells the story of an African American family living on Chicago's south side in the 1950s. Recently widowed, Lena Younger receives a check from her husband’s life insurance and plans to buy a home for her family, freeing them from the cramped tenement in which she, her two children, daughter-in-law and grandson live. However, her son Walter plans to invest the money in a business in an effort to become the man of the family. As one dream is fulfilled another is deferred. The Washington Post said A Raisin in the Sun is “one of a handful of great American plays” and The New York Times called it “a play that changed American theater forever.” Don’t miss this vital and hopeful portrait of one family’s search for the American dream.  

A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959 and for the first time hailed an all-black principal cast, a black playwright and a black director. It was nominated for four Tony Awards. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the inspiring classic about a working class black family struggling to make it in America.

Run time

3 hours with one intermission

Resources

Play Guide
VIDEO: Hear from the Artists: Lou Bellamy
For more information on Penumbra Theatre visit www.penumbratheatre.org.

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