Acworth teen an 'HSM 3' rising star Oct 24, 2008
I had read the play by Lorraine Hansberry. So, yeah, I was definitely familiar with it. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The Cycle Continues Oct 11, 2008
San Francisco producer Carole Shorenstein Hayes brought some of the works to Broadway, and the American Conservatory Theater and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre have produced almost the entire cycle between them ... Two Trains Running (set in 1969); written 1990; Broadway, 1992; Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 1994 ... Jitney (set in 1977); written 1982; revised, 1996; Bay Area premiere, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 1998. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Goldsby to bring city’s early, black literary scene out of Harlem’s shadow Oct 10, 2008
Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks and Lorraine Hansberry are just a few of its stars. Jacqueline Goldsby, Associate Professor in English Language & Literature and the College, will devote her Humanities Day keynote address to exploring one of the key differences that distinguished the Chicago Renaissance from Harlem s more famous movement. (Univeristy of Chicago Chronicle, IL)
More of this story Jul 4, 2008
Whether it's Jackie Robinson holding a baseball while speaking on the telephone, playwright Lorraine Hansberry posing in her home studio, or Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Stokely Carmichael sharing a laugh in the halls of Congress, the portraits often depict a "slice of their life, a moment stopped, a reflective moment," Willis said. A 1915 photograph of educator and activist Booker T. Washington speaking to a large group of people had a different kind of resonance with Willis. (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
The Bard And More Jun 21, 2008
In San Francisco, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre recently closed a production, and San Francisco producer Carole Shorenstein Hays is taking the play back to Broadway, where she triumphed with it in 1985. This production, directed with an unfaltering hand by Leah C. Gardiner, does not attempt to reinterpret the play but presents it simply, allowing the complexities to deepen over the course of nearly three hours. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Summer Reading - 10th Grade May 29, 2008
A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry (ISBN: 0679755330). Watership Down Richard Adams (ISBN: 0743277708). (Suite101.com)
Poet and Speaker May 29, 2008
No one would confuse Lorraine Hansberry with any of her characters in her play, A Raisin in the Sun ... Hughes is speaking through a created character, just as Lorraine Hansberry speaks through her created characters in her play. (Suite101.com)
This week's DVD Report (May 18) May 18, 2008
Written by Lorraine Hansberry on the eve of the 1960s civil-rights movement, "A Raisin in the Sun" is both a period piece about African-American identity and a statement for the ages. Set in 1959 Chicago, it follows the financially struggling Younger family through crises hinging on a forthcoming insurance check for $10,000. (Boston Globe)
Debate drama hits the shelves May 11, 2008
Even Combs -- who wouldn't seem like a wordy guy -- knows how to make writer Lorraine Hansberry proud. Leon tempers the performances (Rashad, in particular, pulls back) and gets a production that has as much relevance today as it did in the '50s. (Sioux City Journal, IO)
Richard Hendrix Has Decision To Make Mar 18, 2008
Date: Mar 17, 2008 A line of Langston Hughess poem "Harlem" inspired playwright Lorraine Hansberry to entitle her Tony Award winning play, A Raisin in the Sun. The plot explores the conflict among family members seeking to fulfill their deferred dreams with money from an impending insurance payment due to the death of the patriarch. (BamaMag.com)
All the Best Mar 6, 2008
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, will have its final performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., as well as 2:30 p.m. Saturday, at The Country Playhouse, 12802 Queensbury in Town & Country Village. It s a classic heavyweight of American Drama on the Cerwinske Stage. (Woodlands Villager, TX)
Poet and playwright Wayne Corbitt Mar 1, 2008
He wrote and performed fearlessly, creating work about his identity as a gay black man who liked S, later, as an artist with HIV. He performed at venues like San Francisco's Marsh and Lorraine Hansberry theaters in addition to appearing in local filmmaker Marc Huestis' 1993 documentary "Sex Is ..." ... Stanley Williams, artistic director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, remembers working with Corbitt on his tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, "A Fish With Frog's Eyes.". (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Is 'Raisin' still relevant today? Feb 27, 2008
The Lorraine Hansberry emotional play dealt with the social attitudes of the day and the myriad struggles of old ways versus new, racial pride and feminism within an African American family and the community. Sidney Poitier originated the role of Walter Lee Younger. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Continuereading Feb 27, 2008
HW: In fact, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry was only 27 years old when she wrote this story ... NM: It's on a case by case basis I think that we'd have to fight to get people to see this as a feature film, but here it's available to a wide audience keeping the legacy of Lorraine Hansberry alive is really, really important to all of us. (Hanford Sentinal, CA)
Three women shine in powerful 'Raisin in the Sun' Feb 23, 2008
This knockout adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play is a model of both the pure power of stage acting and TV s potential to bring us up close to that acting without deadening it. The movie shows us every facial expression and eye flicker, and yet the camerawork, with its probing intimacy, never distracts from the story. (Boston Globe)
Oh, How the Diddy Has Fallen Feb 22, 2008
However, I kept my opinion to myself and sat quietly as Mister Combs made every effort to marry his eagerness to the mastery of Lorraine Hansberry ... On Monday, Feb. 25, a new generation of 12-year-olds will suffer their boney joints watching ABC's "world premiere movie event" -- Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." The all-star Broadway cast was revived, including Phylicia Rashad, Sean Combs (a. (Slate)
'The Piano Lesson' Feb 21, 2008
Perhaps her best-known work is "Love to All, Lorraine," her own one-woman stage show about playwright Lorraine Hansberry ("Raisin in the Sun"), who memorably said, "universality comes from being very specific.". Van Dyke first learned the specifics of Wilson from him and his great mentor and collaborator, director Lloyd Richards, playing the earnest Mattie Campbell in two of the pre-Broadway stagings of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." She later played Berniece in "The Piano Lesson" at New Jersey's... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
'Raisin' has a new day in the sun as ABC television movie Feb 20, 2008
It's a case in point of how far we've come, but that same basic human aspiration drives A Raisin in the Sun, the groundbreaking 1959 play written by Lorraine Hansberry, the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway ... Leon gave screenwriter Paris Qualles (Tuskegee Airmen) marching orders to open the play up to 15 locations and to "match the poetry of Lorraine Hansberry.". (USA Today)
Word For Word Success Feb 13, 2008
Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 620 Sutter St., San Francisco ... Baldwin's much-anthologized short story permeates and transcends the theater in the Word production that opened Friday, produced at, and in association with, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Red carpet premiere for Leon's 'Raisin' Feb 5, 2008
On Feb. 11, Leon, who directed the new TV version as well as the 2004 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of the Lorraine Hansberry classic, will host the red carpet Atlanta premiere of the film at the Woodruff Arts Center. But unless you ve already secured tickets, chances are slim you ll get into the premiere, without braving a stand-by list. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Diddy premieres his latest role at Sundance Jan 25, 2008
The story, first written by Lorraine Hansberry borrowing a line from a Langston Hughes poem What becomes of a dream deferred. Does it dry up/Like a raisin in the sun. (MSNBC -- News)
What's great in '08 Dec 30, 2007
It will be broadcast by ABC.Also starring in the work based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry are Phylicia Rashad, John Stamos and Sean Combs. "Battlestar Galactica" (March): The final season of the Sci Fi Channel series begins. (Fresno Bee)
Robert Hurwitt's theater picks Dec 30, 2007
He helped design California Shakespeare Theater, Theatre on the Square (now Post Street), Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the old Eureka Theatre, Aurora, Brava and many others ... Director Walter Dallas' minimalist staging, a potent opener for the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's season, brought the tale of an abused child's internalized racism to life in a manner that made it clear, funny, terrifying and deeply affecting. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Arts organizations depend on revenue from holiday shows Dec 19, 2007
The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre added an extra week of its 9-year-old hit "Black Nativity." Chanticleer and S.F. Ballet are both doing one more performance than they did in 2006. "This year was very good," ODC/Dance's Laqua said of "The Velveteen Rabbit," "better than we expected.". (San Francisco Chronicle)
More Sundance titles revealed Nov 30, 2007
"A Raisin in the Sun," directed by Kenny Leon and adapted by Paris Qualles from the play by Lorraine Hansberry, is a filmed TV version of the recent Broadway revival starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald. "Savage Grace," directed by Tom Kalin ("Swoon") and written by Howard A. Rodman, concerns the bizarre intimacy between a wealthy mother and her only child played out among the indolent rich in late '60s Europe. (Variety)
Coming attractions: 'Raisin' gets to bask in glow of TV Nov 23, 2007
Why do the ABC film, from Hairspray producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, when two movie versions of the Lorraine Hansberry play already exist. "We wanted to have a new, fresh production of this classic for a whole new generation," says Zadan. (USA Today -- Life)
At 10, Soulpepper looks for laughs Nov 5, 2007
The season starts with a Canadian drama, David French's Salt-Water Moon, and will for the first time in the company's history include a black American playwright: Lorraine Hansberry, whose A Raisin in the Sun is getting a co-pro with Theatre Calgary in October. So expect Canadian plays to make regular appearances on future Soulpepper seasons and more works from outside the white, male, European tradition that has been the company's bread and butter so far. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
The Culture: Mary Zimmerman, Frank Galati Oct 18, 2007
TheatreWorks recently mounted a lively and limber musical version of Jane Austen's "Emma." "The Bluest Eye," an adaptation of Toni Morrison's early novel, is at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre through Nov. 11. The spoken-word movement that turns verse into vibrant solo performance is going strong. (San Francisco Chronicle)
'Eye' mines the depths of racism Oct 17, 2007
REVIEW / Spare and affecting, 'Bluest Eye' mines the depths of racism. " The stage is bare. Time and place (circa 1940 in the industrial Ohio town of Lorain), scene and story are completely in the hands of the eight-person cast, with the help of Allen Hurtt's few, evocative props (the use of blond dolls is wonderfully inventive), Rose Plant's savvy costumes and dramatic lighting (Matthew Royce) and sound (David Molina) effects. Shanique S. Scott is as engaging as 12-year-old Pecola Breedlove as... (San Francisco Chronicle)
'A Raisin in the Sun' Oct 15, 2007
A classic of American drama, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was, in 1959, the first by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. It brought the black community to Broadway and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award as best play of the year. (The Clarion-Ledger)
A Look In The 'Eye' Sep 30, 2007
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to stage 'The Bluest Eye. Article:Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to stage 'The Bluest Eye':/c/a/2007/09/27/PK75S3NCR.DTL Article:Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to stage 'The Bluest Eye':/c/a/2007/09/27/PK75S3NCR.DTL ... Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to stage 'The Bluest Eye. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
In London, Carson McCullers's 'The Member of the Wedding' Sep 18, 2007
In May, north London's Almeida Theatre turned its attention toward an obscure 1938 drama called "Big White Fog" from a black American dramatist, Theodore Ward, who was seen to anticipate in all sorts of intriguing ways such better-known chroniclers of the African-American experience as Lorraine Hansberry and August Wilson. Already this year in London, we've had three Tennessee Williams revivals and one important Edward Albee reclamation. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Before The Fall Aug 26, 2007
Come October, Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," in Broadway musical form, plays the Orpheum; and Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" opens the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's new year. Yet another popular novelist, Haruki Murakami, gets theatricalized in "After the Quake" at Berkeley Rep, which goes on to offer the West Coast premiere of Mary Zimmerman's "Argonautika" in November. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
ABC to debut 'Raisin' after Oscars Aug 17, 2007
Kenny Leon, who earned a Drama Desk nod for staging the Broadway play, helmed the movie; Paris Qualles ("Tuskegee Airmen") adapted the play by Lorraine Hansberry for the tube. As for "Mitch Albom's For One More Day," project reps the third Alphabet adaptation of an Albom book. (Variety)
Wendell's Weekend Pick Jul 13, 2007
A gripping and lushly written domestic drama, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men picks up where Lorraine Hansberry left off and laid the foundation for the works of August Wilson. Still resonant nearly 40 years after its arrival, it s a withering and necessary look at the way the cards have been stacked against African-American males for decades. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Notes of a dubious daughter Jul 7, 2007
THE FIRST time I attended a performance at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco, I was 13 years old ... I wish it could be the long-dead Lorraine Hansberry herself. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Opinion)
Smaller is better at many bay bashes celebrating the fourth Jul 2, 2007
On his third visit to San Francisco in 14 years, David Drake, best known as the creator and star of "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me," returns to direct "2 Boys in a Bed on a Cold Winter's Night," which will be staged at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Robert Hurwitt's story is on Page 20. (San Francisco Chronicle)
more reader opinions Jun 30, 2007
As often happens, the legislation was accompanied by the "law of unintended consequences.'' In order to meet the "substantial proportion,'' also known as "quota'' mandate, some men's athletic programs were discontinued. Apparently, the "win-win'' conclusion was based on statistics showing that "more men are playing intercollegiate sports than in 1972 when the act was passed.'' This seeming paradox is accountable to the large increase in overall college enrollment since 1972 and possibly other... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Opinion)
He's fighting to make sense of a murder Mar 9, 2007
His play "Streethawker" won the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. ADEkoje, who is Nigerian-American, was born in St. Paul, Minn. (Boston Globe -- Living)
Black History Month Profiles Feb 22, 2007
" He's been playwright in residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., Atlanta's Jomandi Productions and San Francisco's Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and his plays have been staged at such other leading companies as San Diego Repertory, the Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville and New Jersey's Crossroads Theatre. Born and raised in the Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va., area, Alexander graduated from Oberlin College in '75 and moved to the Bay Area shortly... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
