Lorraine Hansberry: A Research and Production Sourcebook (Modern Dramatists Research and Production Sourcebooks)
by Richard M. Leeson
Category: Literary Criticism

Born in 1930, Lorraine Hansberry earned critical acclaim as a dramatist before her death at age 34. Only a few years earlier, in 1959, her first-produced play, A Raisin in the Sun, received enthusiastic praise of Broadway critics and audiences alike. It was the first and longest running play by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. When it won the New York Drama Circle Award for the best new drama that year, Hansberry became the first black woman and the youngest recipient ever to receive that honor. This reference book is a guide to her brief life and enormously influential career. The volume includes entries for all of her plays, with each entry providing plot synopses and production information. It also contains a wealth of bibliographical material, useful to students and scholars for conducting further research.