A RAISIN IN THE SUN Comes to the Court Theatre
Performances run January 31 – March 2, 2025.
Court Theatre will present Lorraine Hansberry’s masterpiece A Raisin in the Sun, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award nominee for Best Play, and the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. This production will run January 31 – March 2, 2025 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. The press opening is Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 7:30pm.
The cast of A Raisin in the Sun includes Shanesia Davis (Lena Younger/Mama); Brian Keys (Walter Lee Younger); Kierra Bunch (Ruth Younger); Martasia Jones (Beneatha Younger); Jeremias Darville (Travis Younger, alternating); Di'Aire Wilson (Travis Younger, alternating); Elliot Charles Johnson (Joseph Asagai); Charles Andrew Gardner (George Murchison); Julian Parker (Bobo); Vincent Teninty (Karl Lindner); and J. Nicole Brooks (Mrs. Johnson).
The creative team includes Andrew Boyce (scenic design); Raquel Adorno (costume design); Maximo Grano De Oro (lighting design); Willow James (sound design); Khalid Long, PhD (production dramaturg); Becca McCracken, CSA (casting); Kate Ocker (production stage manager); and Jaclynn Joslin (assistant stage manager).
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is a stunning portrayal of a family’s fight for dignity and the right to dream. As the Youngers await their recently deceased patriarch’s life insurance check, they allow themselves to imagine a bigger life – a life with room to breathe – until those plans are thrown into jeopardy. Hansberry’s language rings as wise and prescient as ever in her moving answer to Langston Hughes’s question, What happens to a dream deferred?
Staged sixty years after Lorraine Hansberry’s passing, Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent (Antigone) brings Hansberry’s masterpiece home to Chicago’s vibrant South Side and Court’s stage for the very first time.

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