A Raisin in the Sun at Pittsburgh Public Theater

Lorraine Hansberry was only twenty-eight years old when she became the first Black woman produced on Broadway with her groundbreaking drama about the Youngers, a tight-knit family living in a small apartment in 1950s Chicago, who receive a large life insurance payment after the death of their patriarch Big Walter. They each have a dream for the money adult son Walter sees this as his one chance to go into business and become self-sufficient; his sister Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor and hopes the money can help pay for medical school; and just as she tends to the resilient, tiny plant struggling for sunlight on her windowsill, Mama hopes to use the money to find a new home with a little space where her grandson Travis can play in the sun. In its Pittsburgh Public debut, Hansberrys American masterpiece continues to resonate through our shared history as a testament to love in the face of challenge and daring in the wake of dreams deferred.