page_title: A Raisin in the Sun
section_title: Production and reception
hierarchical_section_title: A Raisin in the Sun / Production and reception
caption_attribution_description: Photo of a scene from the play A Raisin in the Sun. From left-Ruby Dee (Ruth Younger), Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil), Glynn Turman (Travis Younger), Sidney Poitier (Walter Younger) and John Fielder (Karl Lindner). All shown except Turman reprised their roles in the 1961 film version.
context_page_description: A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and in recent years publications such as The Independent and Time Out have listed it among the best plays ever written.
context_section_description: With a cast in which all but one character is black, A Raisin in the Sun was considered a risky investment, and it took over a year for producer Philip Rose to raise enough money to launch it. There was disagreement with how it should be played, with focus on the mother or focus on the son. When the play hit New York, Poitier played it with the focus on the son and found not only his calling but also an audience enthralled.
  After touring to positive reviews, the play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959. It transferred to the Belasco Theatre on October 19, 1959, and closed on June 25, 1960, after 530 total performances. 
  Directed by Lloyd Richards, the cast comprised:
  Sidney Poitier – Walter Lee Younger
  Ruby Dee – Ruth Younger
  Ivan Dixon – Joseph Asagai
  Lonne Elder III – Bobo
  John Fiedler – Karl Lindner
  Louis Gossett – George Murchison
  Claudia McNeil – Lena Younger
  Diana Sands – Beneatha Younger
  Glynn Turman – Travis Younger
  Ed Hall – moving man
  Douglas Turner – moving man
  Ossie Davis later took over as Walter Lee Younger, and Frances Williams as Lena Younger.
  Waiting for the curtain to rise on opening night, Hansberry and producer Rose did not expect the play to be a success, for it had already received mixed reviews from a preview audience the night before. Though it won popular and critical acclaim, reviewers argued about whether the play was "universal" or particular to black experience. It was then produced on tour.
  A Raisin in the  Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first with a black director, Mr.  Richards.
  Hansberry noted that her play introduced details of black life to the overwhelmingly white Broadway audiences, while director Richards observed that it was the first play to which large numbers of black people were drawn. Frank Rich, writing in The New York Times in 1983, stated that A Raisin in the Sun "changed American theater forever". In 2016, Claire Brennan wrote in The Guardian that "The power and craft of the writing make A Raisin in the Sun as moving today as it was then."
  In 1960 A Raisin In The Sun was nominated for four Tony Awards:
  Best Play – written by Lorraine Hansberry; produced by Philip Rose, David J. Cogan
  Best Actor in Play – Sidney Poitier
  Best Actress in a Play – Claudia McNeil
  Best Direction of a Play – Lloyd Richards
caption: Scene from the play. Ruby Dee as Ruth, Claudia McNeil as Lena, Glynn Turman as Travis, Sidney Poitier as Walter, and John Fiedler as Karl Lindner.
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