"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so
much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage,"
observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on
Broadway in 1959.
This edition presents the fully restored, uncut version of Hansberry's
landmark work with an introduction by Robert Nemiroff.
Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations
of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of
Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of Black America--and
changed American theater forever. The play's title comes from a line in
Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might
"dry up/like a raisin in the sun."
"The events of every passing year add resonance to A Raisin in the
Sun," said The New York Times. "It is as if history is conspiring to
make the play a classic."