A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's WindowCollected together, two of the most electrifying classic masterpieces of the American theater, remarkable not only for their historical value but for their continued ability to engage the imagination and the heart. With an Introduction by Robert Nemiroff. "Rich and warm and funny and varied ... beautifully written." —Los Angeles Times, on The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window "One of a handful of great American plays—it belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Glass Menagerie." —Washington Post, on A Raisin in the Sun By the time of her death, at the tragically young age of thirty-four, Lorraine Hansberry had created two milestones of the American theater. With A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry gave this country its most movingly authentic portrayal of black family life in the inner city. Barely five years later, with The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Hansberry gave us an unforgettable portrait of a man struggling with his individual fate in an age of racial and social injustice. "Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959. The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might "dry up/like a raisin in the sun." From John Blaine’s Foreword to The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window: “It is drama of such clarity that one may return to it again and again, and, I expect, emerge as deeply moved; and each time the more illumined…. Miss Hansberry, I am convinced, doesn’t know how to create a character who isn’t gloriously diverse, illuminatingly contradictory, heart-breakingly alive…. [A] personal odyssey of discovery, a confrontation with others in the process of which [Brustein] discovers himself.” |
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A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window Lorraine Hansberry No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
African African American ain't never ALTON American ASAGAI baby bathroom bedroom BENEATHA BOBO bout Broadway brother Brustein comes crosses curtain DAVID Diana Sands door drama dream drink exits eyes face feel finally Frank Rich Fred Gabriel Dell GEORGE girl glasses GLORIA goes going hair hand Hansberry's happen head hear hell Herman Shumlin honey IRIS JOHNSON kind laugh Lena Younger LINDNER living Longacre Theatre Lorraine Hansberry MAMA marry MAVIS mean morning mother moving MURCHISON night opens play Raisin Robert Nemiroff RUTH Walter scene Shelley Winters Sidney Brustein's Window Sign in Sidney sits slowly Smiling stands stares starts stops suddenly sure talk tell theatre there's things thought TRAVIS trying turns understand Viveca Lindfors Wally O'Hara Walter Lee What's the matter Willy Harris woman Yeah