A Raisin In the Sun
Produced By: The Groton School
Scenic Design By: Sarah Sullivan
Performed at: The Marion D. Campbell Performing Arts Center
A Raisin in the Sun is the tale of the Youngers, a poor African American family struggling to get by. At the opening of the show they have recently lost the patriarch of the family and are expecting a check for his life insurance policy. The various members of the younger family each have different ideas of how to spend the money, and the action of the show revolves arround this check. The play explores the relationship between following your dreams, and the obligations of family, and how the two can coexist and in fact propel eachother forward. Eventually the Matriarch of the family decides that a bright new home would bring joy to all of their lives and she purchases such a home in a white neighborhood, much to the dismay of the neighborhood association who tries to buy them out of the neighborhood. But the Youngers learn that staying true to your family can give you the strength to reach for your dreams. The lighting in this production served to create this tight closed space where the audience forgets there is a world outside the Youngers' apartment. Cool tones and mottled breakups served to make the home feel stifling and dirty, the only hope for sunlight coming from a small window above the sink. The mood of the apartment served to reinforce the feelings of bondage the characters felt towards their family obligations. This environment also reinforces Mama's ideas that a brighter home influences the people who live there; if their home doesnt feel like a prison, the Youngers wont feel like prisoners.
- ©2018 Erik Fox
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