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Let’s Talk With Damone: ‘A Raisin In The Sun’ To Be Revived On Broadway…Again?

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Word on the street has been a production of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic family drama ‘A Raisin In The Sun,’ is to be mounted for a 2014 Broadway run…again. Well, now it’s been officially confirmed and this time, apparently, it will star Oscar and Tony-winner Denzel Washington as ‘Walter Lee Younger,’ alongside Diahann Carroll (‘Lena’), Sophie Okenedo (I assume as ‘Ruth’), and Anika Noni Rose (again, I assume as ‘Beneatha’), and is to be directed by Kenny Leon…again. Interesting, to say the least.

A revival of ‘A Raisin In The Sun’ was last seen on Broadway in 2004 (just under ten years ago), directed by Kenny Leon, and starring Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, Phylicia Rashad (who won the Best Performance by a Leading Actress Tony that year), Audra McDonald (who won the Best Performance by a Featured Actress Tony that year), and Sanaa Lathan (who was nominated for the Best Performance by a Featured Actress Tony that year).

‘A Raisin In The Sun’ is one of my favorite plays. Hands down. Hansberry crafted a timeless masterpiece with that work. That being said, however, I’m not sure ANOTHER revival is the route to go. I admire all of the actors supposedly filling the roles for this 2014 Broadway run, and want nothing more than for them to be working…but ‘A Raisin In The Sun’? Really? Again?? This soon??? Sigh. I get that this cast (and to be honest, this play) WILL draw an audience, but when there are countless OTHER Black playwrights works to explore and stories to be told, I grow weary. When there are Black playwrights like Dominique Morisseau (‘Detroit ‘67’), Tarell Alvin McCraney (‘Choir Boy’), Harrison David Rivers (‘Look Upon Our Lowliness’), and Kwame Kwei-Armah (‘Elmina’s Kitchen’), whose work deserves a stab at the Great White Way (and not to mention the countless other emerging young, or not so young, Black playwrights I didn’t mention), I can’t really bring myself to get too excited about another run of an often-done “Black classic.” Regardless of how good the play is.

Question: When was the last time a NEW work by a Black playwright about Black people, that WASN’T a musical, was on Broadway?
Answer: Over the last ten years only ten shows (non-musicals), written by and about Black people, appeared on Broadway.
“The Mountaintop,” by Katori Hall. (2011)
“Stick Fly,” by Lydia Diamond. (2011)
“Fences,” by August Wilson. (2010)
“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” by August Wilson. (2009)
“Radio Golf,” by August Wilson. (2007)
“A Raisin In The Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry. (2004)
“Drowning Crow,” by Regina Taylor. (2004)
“Gem Of The Ocean,” by August Wilson. (2004)
“Whoopi,” by Whoopi Goldberg. (2004)
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” by August Wilson. (2003)

Out of those ten only four WEREN’T written by either August Wilson or Lorraine Hansberry.

So what is it? Is “the Broadway community” afraid to take chances on NEW Black playwrights? Is the underlying theme here that we Blacks are only really welcome on Broadway if we are singin’ & dancin’ (read: schuckin’ & jivin’), or appearing in Black classic plays? I’m really curious.

At any rate, another revival of ‘A Raisin In The Sun’ may be descending upon the “Great White Way” (Ha! That joke wrote itself years ago…), and I’m conflicted. Though I don’t really want to see another incarnation of this show on Broadway so soon, I love seeing US at work. So…fee-fi-fo-fum! Maybe Broadway ain’t as “progressive” as folks have claimed it to be. Maybe Broadway really is just like it’s little sister, Hollywood.

This is a conversation I think we definitely need to be having, I just don’t know where to start. Do we keep encouraging Black playwrights to continue writing about the Black experience? Do we focus our attentions on getting plays written by Black playwrights about the Black experience produced? Or do we just remain thankful for the little we get, and keep on keeping on?

What do YOU think? Share your thoughts with me. As an artist interested in telling his own stories about the Black experience, I’m really looking to hear what my fellow artists have to say!

Let the dialogue begin…hopefully!

Founder/Editor-In-Chief of BroadwayBlack.com | Actor | Artist | 1/3 of @OffBookPodcast | Theatre connoisseur | All Audra Everything | Caroline over Change | I'm Not Charl Brown | Norm Lewis is my play cousin | Producing an all-black production of Mame starring Jenifer Lewis in my head

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Events and Happenings

Erika Dickerson-Despenza Addresses Flint Water Crisis with Cullud Wattah

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Playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza

There is limited seating left for Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s new play CULLUD WATTAH at The Public Theater. Opening today, Thursday, March 7th and running until Sunday, March 10th in the Public Studio is about three generations of Black women living through the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

“It’s been 936 days since Marion’s family has had clean water. When local activists file a class action lawsuit against the city, Marion—a third-generation employee at General Motors—must decide how best to support her two daughters, sister, and mother while lead seeps into the community, their home, and their bodies. As corrosive memories and secrets rise among them, the family wonders if they’ll ever be able to filter out the truth.”

2018 Relentless Award Semifinalist and poet-playwright makes her Public Theater debut with CULLUD WATTAH directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones; the cast includes Deonna Bouye (Marion), Alana Raquel Bowers (Reesee), Caroline Stefanie Clay (Big Ma), Nikiya Mathis (Ainee), and Kara Young (Plum).

The creative team includes Production Stage Manager Gregory Fletcher, Stage Manager Priscilla Villanueva, and Movement Director Adesola Osakalumi. Along with scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, Costume Design by Ntokozo Fuzunina Kunene, lighting Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, and sound design by Megan Culley

We believe in this work so much we’re giving away 4 tickets to the performances on March 10th. 2 tickets to the matinee and two the evening performance thanks to our founder Drew Shade and actress/playwright Jocelyn Bioh. Go to our Instagram to find out how!

Also, find out more about how you can help the Flint Water Crisis and support this show HERE.

Listen to Erika talk about her work on an episode of Off Book Podcast below

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Events and Happenings

Surely Goodness and Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson Begins Off-Broadway

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Performances begin today, Tuesday February 26th, for the New York premiere of  Surely Goodness and Mercy, presented by Keen Company. A story about an exceptional boy living a troubled life in Newark, NJ who does a good deed for an often unnoticed person.   Sarita Covington, Jay Mazyck, Brenda Pressley, Courtney Thomas, and Cezar Williams star under Jessi D. Hill’s direction.

Set in an under-funded public school in Newark, Surely Goodness and Mercy by rising playwright Chisa Hutchinson, tells the story of a bible-toting boy with a photographic memory who befriends the cantankerous old lunch lady. Against all odds, Tino and Bernadette help each other through the mess of growing up and growing old.  

Surely Goodness and Mercy has spent the last year charming audiences across the country: “Notably absent from Hutchinson’s frank and sobering story: cynicism” – Chicago Reader; “(Surely Goodness and Mercy has) a soul-stirring quality, touching audiences with its sincerity” – Daily Utah Chronicle; “it’s impossible not to like it” – The Salt Lake Tribune. Now, Keen is honored to bring this big-hearted new play to New York for the first time.

Performances for this limited Off-Broadway engagement of Surely Goodness and Mercy will continue through Saturday, April 13th only, with opening night set for Wednesday, March 13th.

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