A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry

Benediction Classics, Apr 29, 2017 - Drama - 100 pages

A Raisin in the Sun reflects Lorraine Hansberry's childhood experiences in segregated Chicago. This electrifying masterpiece has enthralled audiences and been festooned with critical accolades.

"Never before, in the entire history of the American theatre, has so much of the truth of black people's lives been seen on the stage." - James Baldwin.

"A Raisin in the Sun belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman and Long Day's Journey into Night " - The Washington Post.

"The play that changed American theatre forever" - The New York Times.

About the author

American playwright Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in Chicago. After attending the University of Wisconsin for two years and then studying painting in Chicago and Mexico, Hansberry moved to New York in 1950. There she held a number of odd jobs to make ends meet while trying to establish her writing career. Hansberry wrote her first play A Raisin in the Sun in 1959. The first drama by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of a working-class black family in Chicago. The production won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and in 1961, the film version, starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, received a special award at the Cannes Film Festival. Hansberry's next play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, a drama set in Greenwich Village, had a short run on Broadway in 1964. Hansberry's promising career was tragically cut short by her premature death on January 12, 1965. She was 34 years old. The plays To Be Young, Gifted and Black and Les Blancs were adapted from Hansberry's early writings by her ex-husband Robert Nemiroff. Both plays were produced off-Broadway, in 1969 and 1970 respectively.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Raisin in the Sun
• Author: Lorraine Hansberry
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Benediction Classics, 2017
• ISBN: 1781398127, 9781781398128
• Length: 100 pages
• Subjects: Drama / American / African American & Black