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Overview

Synopsis

A Raisin in the Sun is a play about dreams; what it means to dream big, to lose faith in your dreams, and to discover new dreams. It is also a story about family. We meet the Younger family the day before they are getting a $10,000 insurance check from the death of the father, Walter Younger. We watch as different members of the family have different ideas of how to use the money: Mama wants to buy a house with a little garden in the back, Walter Lee Younger (their son) wants to invest in a liquor store, Ruth (Walter Lee’s wife) wants a house with some space and a nice kitchen, and Beneatha (Walter Lee’s sister) wants to go to medical school. Tensions increase as each member of the family tries to get their own way, eventually threatening to break apart their foundation completely. The stakes continue to climb as questions about identity, class, value, race, and love become forefront issues, and outsiders to the family make it impossible to forget the world that the Younger family cannot seem to escape.

Show Information

Category
Play
Age Guidance
Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
Number of Acts
3
First Produced
1959
Genres
Drama
Settings
Simple/No Set
Time & Place
chicago's southside, 1950s
Cast Size
medium
Ideal For
community theater, black box, regional, university, College/University, Community Theatre, Diverse Cast, Ensemble Cast, High School, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Star Vehicle Male, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Mature Adult, Adult, Young Adult, Child Characters, Medium Cast

Context

Plot

Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Lena Younger (Mama)

Lead

Female

Non-singer

Ruth Younger

Lead

Female

Non-singer

Beneatha Younger

Lead

Female

Non-singer

Walter Lee Younger

Lead

Male

Non-singer

Joseph Asagai

Supporting

Male

Non-singer

George Murchison

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Travis

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Karl Lindner

Featured

Male

Spoken

Bobo

Featured

Male

Spoken

Mrs. Johnson

Featured

Female

Spoken

Moving Men

Ensemble

Male

Songs

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A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

Monologues

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Scenes

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Key Terms

    Taking on the habits, behaviors, and attitudes of another, often dominant, culture.

    A period in which approximately 1.6 million African-Americans left the rural Southern states to seek greater social freedom and the labor opportunities in Northern industrial cities between 1916 and 1940.

    A cultural movement in early twentieth-century America that celebrated and advocated for the art, literature, music, fashion, and theatre of African-American communities.

    The name given to the Harlem Renaissance at the time, named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke.

    The mythological Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to humans. As punishment by Zeus, he was chained to a rock and an eagle ate his liver every day until he was freed by Hercules.

    An objective of the Civil Rights movement, eliminating social, economic, political, educational, and civic barriers based on race.

    A hopeless situation with no possibility of improvement; a dilapidated structure.

    The enforced separation of groups of people, often based on race.

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