Additional Casting Information

Cast size: Small (3 women, 7 men, 1 boy)

Cast Type: Ensemble Cast

Dance requirement: None

About the Play

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​A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the Younger family , a Black family in Chicago, grappling with financial hardship and dreams for a better future after their patriarch' s death.  They await a large insurance payment that many family members envision as a ticket to a brighter life.  The play explores themes of race, gender roles, and aspirations with the African American experience of the 1950's . When produced on Broadway in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was somewhat prophetic.  The playwright's themes of Blacks pressing forward with legitimate demands and expressing interest in their African heritage were to become primary themes of Black culture in the 1960's 1970's and to this day.  The title of Lorraine Hanberry's play is from a poem by Langston Hughes, one of the poets of the  Harlem Renaissance. It warns the audience of the social explosions that might occur if society permits Blacks to remain unequal and unfree.

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About the Playwright

Lorraine Hansberry was the first African American female playwright to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun highlights the lives of Black Amercians in Chicago living under racial segregation.  Much of her work during this time concerned the African American  struggle for liberation and their impact on the world.  Hansberry’s other playwriting credits include: The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in 1965. Hansberry also  inspired Nina Simone’s song "To Be Young , Gifted and Black , whose title-line came from her autobiographical play > To Be Young , Gifted and Black !

Character Breakdown

RUTH YOUNGER –African American Female,  late 30s; The wife of Walter and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Younger  household. Her marriage has problems. She is about 30. But her weariness makes her older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles have aged her. However, she continues to be strong. Her almost pessimistic pragmatism helps her to survive

TRAVIS YOUNGER –African American Male, 8-10  years; He is Walter and Ruth's little boy. He loves his grandma and gets teased a lot by Beneatha. He likes to play outside with his friends. He has no bedroom and sleeps on the living couch.

WALTER LEE YOUNGER –African American Male, 40s.; The protagonist of the play. He wants to be rich and devises a way to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. He has a strong, powerful presence in his household. He displays a dominance behavior with the women in his life. But none of the women will tolerate his behavior. He spends much of the play endless preoccupied with discovering a quick solution to his family’s various problems..to invent his father’s insurance in a liquor store

BENEATHA YOUNGER – African American Female, 20s; She is Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. She is an intellectual. She attends college. She dreams of being a doctor and distances herself from the conservative views of her mother.

LENA YOUNGER (MAMA) –African American Female, 60s -70s; She is the mother of Walter and Beneatha. The matriarch of the family. Mama is a Christian, moral and maternal. She argues against her son’s plan. She believes that the product of a liquor store will further poison the community and stain the memory of her beloved husband Walter Lee Younger, Sr.

JOSEPH ASAGAI –African American Male, 20s; A Nigerian college student in love with Beneatha. He is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes marriage to her and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him.

GEORGE MURCHISON –African American Male, 20s; A wealthy young college student who courts Beneatha. The Youngers approve of George, but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and he has forgotten his African heritage. He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other Black people through his arrogance and flair to intellectual competition.

KARL LINDER – White Male, 50s-60s; The only white character in the play. He arrives at the Younger apartment from the Clybourne Park  Improvement Association. He offers them a deal to reconsider moving into his all-white neighborhood

BOBO –African American Male, 40’s; One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan. He appears to be mentally slow as his name indicates.

MOVING MEN – African American Adults, no specific ages; At the end of the play, the two men move packed boxes out the apartment and load them on the truck.