On the 60th anniversary of the play’s first production on Broadway, Lorraine Hansberry’s Tony Award-nominated “A Raisin in the Sun” will open at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor Thursday evening and continue public performances through Dec. 1.
The original production, which opened in 1959 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City, starred Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Ivan Dixon, Lonne Elder III, Louis Gossett, Claudia McNeil, and Diana Sands. The story takes place during a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on Chicago’s South Side.
In anticipation of a life insurance check for $10,000, each of the adult members of the family has a different idea of what to do with the money. Ruth wants to buy a house, Walter would rather invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money for medical school tuition. While the family members’ dreams clash as the play unfolds, in the end they leave their apartment for a new home but an uncertain future.
The Bay Street production features Chauncy Thomas as Walter Lee Younger, Cooki Winborn as Lena Younger, Erin Margaret Pettigrew as Ruth Younger, and Cassia Thompson as Beneatha Younger. Jonathan Carrington, Michael Chenevert, Justin Jorrell, Joe Pallister, and Kaden Amari Anderson round out the cast.
Lydia Fort, who has directed at theaters and festivals throughout the country, will direct the production. She has received fellowships from the New York Theatre Workshop, the Time Warner Foundation, and the Drama League, and teaches directing, acting, and African-American theater at Emory University.
“A Raisin in the Sun” is being produced under Bay Street’s Literature Live! umbrella, which allows all student school groups and their administrators to attend performances for free. Tickets to the public programs, on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m., are $20 to $55.