Review: RAISIN IN THE SUN at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

In 1959, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was the first play produced on Broadway written by a Black woman. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre is closing it’s 2025-26 season with this classic and It has lost none of its relevance and power in the intervening years.

The play’s title is taken from a Langston Hughes poem. The raisin represents how dreams can shrivel when denied.

The dreams in question belong to the Younger family. They live in the South Side of Chicago in the 50s. Each member of the family has their own dream that is battling for survival against economic barriers, discrimination and when it comes to Walter Lee Younger, some bad choices.

Walter Lee is played with a complex, explosive mix of dominance and vulnerability by DiMonte Henning.  It’s a powerful performance that left the audience both gasping and applauding.

The rest of the Younger family is revealed in rich layers by Olivia Dawson, Paulina Lule, Malaina Moore and Amari DeBerry. 

Dawson in the Younger matriarch, Lena. She lives with her son, daughter-in-law (Lule), daughter, (Moore) and grandson (DeBerry) in a small apartment. The close quarters and seemingly conflicting dreams bring tensions to a head when Lena gets her late husband’s life-insurance check

Director Kimille Howard creates a compelling world in the Younger apartment and guides a remarkable group of actors in a story that’s still as timely today (unfortunately) as it was in 1959.

Photo by Michael Brosilow

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