With its presentation of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” The Black Rep is once again using its stage productions to personify the racial tensions that have proven especially relevant as the unrest in Ferguson continues to unfold.
“The crazy thing is, we picked these shows months before Michael Brown was killed,” Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The Black Rep, said as he was set to kick off Season 38.
On the heels of “Purlie,” Ossie Davis’ musical about a racial uprising from an oppressed community of sharecroppers, The Black Rep has chosen a timeless piece that reinforces pride and determination in the face of insurmountable odds.
Many may be shocked to know that this is the first time “A Raisin in the Sun” has been staged in the company’s nearly 40-year history.
They have tackled the musical version “Raisin” more than once over the years – most recently in 2005.
First produced more than 55 years ago, Hansberry’s black theatre classic – the first play by an African-American woman to appear on Broadway – underscores residential racial divides and the struggles of working-class black family life still present today.
More than a few households in present day Ferguson bear a striking resemblance to the fictional Younger family that Hansberry highlights in her play. Three generations are crammed into a dilapidated apartment building on the South Side of Chicago. Their existence is one of few opportunities and even fewer resources.
But as they barely stay afloat, the Youngers cling to optimism, thanks to an opportunity that grew from tragedy.
And even when racism, classism, prejudice, personal and systematic setbacks threaten to stomp them out, they attempt stay true to their family’s legacy of making things better for the next generation.
The Black Rep debuted the production as their season’s second show just days after St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that the grand jury would not convict now former Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown Jr.
Yet the response to their presentation of “A Raisin in the Sun” has been overwhelming.
The opening night production was completely sold out. Only limited seating was available for the entire first weekend of the show’s three-week run.
A diverse group of patrons nearly filled the Harris-Stowe State University’s Emerson Performance Center for the Sunday afternoon matinee to watch director Ed Smith lead Ronald Connor, Thayis Walsh, Sharisa Whatley and Andrea Frye into the roles that for many laid the foundation for an African-American narrative within mainstream theatre.
Through the story, audiences will see that the grievances expressed nationwide since that sweltering day in August when Michael Brown was gunned down have been constant since before most of them were born.
The unrest, frustration and racial tension in Ferguson are shared by this fictional 1950s family in Chicago. But the play also eloquently expresses the willful determination of African Americans to rise from the ashes.
“A Raisin in the Sun” has continued to resonate with audiences – through stage, film and television productions – thanks to the parting thought of staying focused on the promise of tomorrow in spite of what one might see or suffer through today.
It’s a message that needs to be resounded as a community attempts to come together and move beyond the tragedy that thrust St. Louis’ problems into an international spotlight.
“Part of our mission is to speak to the African-American experience,” Himes said, “and use the theatre to create conversations from those experiences that can hopefully facilitate change.”
The Black Rep’s presentation of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun continues through December 21 at Harris-Stowe State University’s Emerson Performance Center. For more information, visit www.theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3810.
