Lorraine Hansberry

A play about a Black family which surmounts insurmountable odds to remain whole and free.

Presents the original screenplay written by Lorraine Hansberry for the 1961 film version of her play about the tensions of a middle-class African-American family living on Chicago's southside in the 1950s; restoring parts that were edited out and rewritten before the movie was made.

"The prose and dramatic writings of Lorraine Hansberry provide autobiographical information about the author's life, thoughts, feelings, and career." --

"This is the probing, hilarious and provocative story of Sidney, a disenchanted Greenwich Village intellectual, his wife Iris, an aspiring actress, and their colorful circle of friends and relations. Set against the shenanigans of a stormy political campaign, the play follows its characters in their unorthodox quests for meaningful lives in an age of corruption, alienation and cynicism. With compassion, humor and poignancy, the author examines questions...

"This groundbreaking play starred Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeill, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands in the Broadway production which opened in 1959 and has since been revived. Set on Chicago's South Side, the plot revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis and matriarch Lena. When her deceased husband's insurance money comes through,...

Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads where the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Decisions will need to be made on how to best spend the money, from buying a new family home, buying a liquor store or even paying for medical school tuition. While no choice is easy, life on the South Side of Chicago in...