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From January 11, to February 8, 2004, HOME’s
neighbor, Studio Arena Theatre, will be staging a production of A
Raisin in the Sun. Directed by Ron O.J. Parson, the production
promises to be as fresh and relevant as it was when it was first produced
nearly 45 years ago. This is because the well written play embraces
themes that are still relevant today such as family and intergenerational
conflict-- and the searing effects of discrimination. This theme is the
reason for Housing Opportunities Made Equal’s participation in community
outreach and education around the play.
Lorraine Hansberry’s
ground-breaking drama centers on the Youngers, an African American family
living in a tenement on Chicago’s South Side. According to the Studio
Arena season brochure: “Each member of the Younger family has his or her
own idea of how to spend their father’s life insurance settlement to the
betterment of the family. Will they open their own business, send daughter
Beneatha to medical school, or move to an all-white suburb of Chicago? Set
at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, RAISIN seeks answers to the
questions posed in Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem: What happens to a dream
deferred?”
First produced in 1959, the play is
set in the very place where nearly 10 years later, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. would wage his most difficult battle—the battle for equal rights in
housing. The Younger family grapples with some of the same issues that
stymied Dr. King and continue to frustrate the efforts of HOME today.
HOME has been invited to participate in ancillary educational efforts so
that the play will not be seen in isolation, but in a historical context.
There has been much progress made in the struggle to overcome segregation
and discrimination but we still, even today, have a long way to go.
On January 12th HOME
will kick off a series of community workshops dealing with some of the
themes in the play with a workshop giving a historical perspective on the
struggle for fair housing. The evening will end with a performance of the
HOME Players and a discussion of the impact of discrimination today. The
two organizations will also collaborate on a display for the Theatre’s
Stage Left Lounge and HOME will contribute to the theatre’s study guide
for high school students studying the play.
HOME is fortunate to have this
opportunity to work with one Buffalo’s major cultural establishments. We
encourage all our friends and members to go see this production and
participate in the free events. In addition to the series of workshops,
the theatre has regular talk-backs, salons, and preflections. For ticket
and event information, call (716) 856-5650.
See you at the
theatre! |
