Lorraine Hansberry News

PBS' new performance documentary A RAISIN IN THE SUN REVISITED: THE RAISIN CYCLE AT CENTER STAGE explores the history and legacy of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking 1959 play through the lens of a culturally significant milestone: the staging of two contemporary, issues-oriented plays that Raisin inspired: Bruce Norris's Tony Award-winning Clybourne Park and Beneatha's Place by Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the State Theater of Maryland, Baltimore's Center Stage. The program premieres tonight, October 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) as part of the PBS ARTS FALL FESTIVAL, which highlights artists and performances from around the country and invites every American into the worlds of music, theater, opera and cultural history.

During November and December the Brooklyn Museum presents a variety of public programs for adults and kids, including special Veterans Day Weekend programming, a Thursday evening listening event presented by StoryCorps' Military Voices Initiative, musical performances by the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra and the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, and the seventh annual Brooklyn Children's Book Fair with readings by Brooklyn-based authors Adam Gidwitz and Oliver Jeffers.The full line up is as follows:

TimeLine Theatre Company announces a three-week extension of its acclaimed production of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Ron OJ Parson. Originally scheduled to close on November 17, A Raisin in the Sun will now run through December 7, 2013, at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave, Chicago.Tickets to newly added performances go on sale Thursday, October 10 at 12 p.m.

Bonafide 2013 is created by Stephanie Ogeleza and Produced by Pristine Playhouse and will run November 1, 2 & 3, 2013.

It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but it wasn't until the end of last month - after living here for more than eight years - that I discovered the Nevada Conservatory Theatre at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). But, as the cliche goes, better late than never and, though belated, it was a lovely discovery.

Portland's (Maine) Good Theater opened its 2013-2014 season with an incisive production of Bruce Norris' 2011 Pultizer Prize winning drama, Clybourne Park. The play, inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, explores the issues of subtle, yet pervasive racism in a Chicago neighborhood, first in 1959 and then in 2009. That the characters in each half of the drama have different names and ostensibly different experiences is a bitter illusion. History not only repeats itself, albeit it in a more understated and sophisticated way, but it also painfully demonstrates that prejudice dies hard; even time, education, and improving economics do not erase deeply ingrained fears and intolerance.

PBS' new performance documentary A RAISIN IN THE SUN REVISITED: THE RAISIN CYCLE AT CENTER STAGE explores the history and legacy of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking 1959 play through the lens of a culturally significant milestone: the staging of two contemporary, issues-oriented plays that Raisin inspired: Bruce Norris's Tony Award-winning Clybourne Park and Beneatha's Place by Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the State Theater of Maryland, Baltimore's Center Stage.The program premieres Friday, October 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) as part of the PBS ARTS FALL FESTIVAL, which highlights artists and performances from around the country and invites every American into the worlds of music, theater, opera and cultural history.

Dallas Theater Center has announced the regional premiere of Clybourne Park, running in rotating rep with A Raisin in the Sun, to launch the theater's 55th season. Clybourne Park will be directed by DTC Associate Artistic Director Joel Ferrell. Clybourne Park begins with a Pay-What-You-Can performance tonight, October 4 and runs through Sunday, October 27 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

The Billie Holiday Theatre kicks off its 42nd Season Generations United on October 19 with the World Premiere of Fati's Last Dance by France-Luce Benson and directed by the Theatre's Artistic Director Jackie Alexander. Previews begin Saturday, October 19 with the show running through Sunday, December 15 (Opening Night TBD). Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm with matinees on Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 4pm. Tickets range from $15-$25 and can be purchased online at www.thebillieholiday.org or by calling the box office at 718-636-0918 or 0919. Discounts are available for Children, Seniors, and Groups.

Good Theater kicks off its 12th season with the 2012 Tony Award winning Best Play CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris, playing tonight, October 2-27, at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Cherry Jones, Ellen Burstyn, Jerry Zaks, George C. Wolfe, Lynne Meadow, Cameron Mackintosh, David Hays, and Lorraine Hansberry will be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. The 2013 ceremony is set for Jauary 27, 2014, at the Gershwin Theatre (North Rotunda).

Good Theater kicks off its 12th season with the 2012 Tony Award winning Best Play CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris, playing today, October 2-27, at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. Contact Good Theater at 207-885-5885 or www.goodtheater.com for tickets and information.

California Shakespeare Theater today announced its plans for 40thanniversary season, which includes a play that "changed American theater forever" according to the New York Times in its Broadway premiere; George Bernard Shaw's brilliant anti-romantic comedy, and two wildly inventive Shakespeare productions. The season will feature the return of directors Shana Cooper (Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew), Patricia McGregor (Spunk, A Winter's Tale), and Aaron Posner (A Midsummer Night's Dream), and choreographer Erika Chong Shuch (The Tempest).

Stageworks Theatre announces its diverse 2013-14 Season.

My belated mother once said, 'Your house is your house and your life is your life, and they really are two separate things.' But are they? Playwright Bruce Norris explores this question in Clybourne Park a provocative play set in an ordinary house in a fictional Chicago suburb.

Before Thursday's opening night performance of Paul Oakley Stovall's IMMEDIATE FAMILY, The Ensemble Theatre's Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris explained that their 37th season is all about creating magical moments within productions and within the community of their ever-growing audience base. Creating the first of many magical moments for the evening, she then proudly asserted that the E in ensemble stands for everyone, welcoming every member of the opening night audience to the theatre. Following suit, the heartwarming family-centered comedy IMMEDIATE FAMILY left audiences rolling in the aisles while exploring the importance of family and the power and beauty of acceptance, love, and understanding that members of our chosen and biological families can offer us.

Artistic Director Molly Smith announced today, playwright Lydia R. Diamond, whose impressive body of work includes Stick Fly, Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye and The Gift Horse, among others, will become a resident playwright as part of the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Diamond's yearlong residency will begin Tuesday, October 1, 2013.

General tickets go on sale today, September 21, for Tony Award-winner and two-time Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington as Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, opposite film, television and Tony Award-winning stage star Diahann Carroll as Lena Younger, in her first Broadway appearance in over 30 years. The production will be directed by Tony Award-nominee Kenny Leon. Previews begin March 8, 2014, with opening night on April 3, 2014 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), where the original production of A Raisin in the Sun opened 55 years ago. A Raisin in the Sun is a limited engagement, running 14 weeks only through June 15, 2014. Tickets will be available at www.telecharge.com or by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200.