ALLENTOWN, LEHIGH COUNTY, PA (WLVT) - What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
The Muhlenberg College Theatre and Dance Department is headlining A Raisin in the Sun for the school's black history month celebrations. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. The thought-provoking production is about an urban black family in 1950s Chicago who comes into money and has conflicting ideas on how to use it. As tensions rise between the Younger family, how do they hold onto hope while being stuck in a suffocating system deeply rooted in racism?
The cast talks about how this 1950s play is still relevant today. Junior Nicole Morris plays Beneatha, a college student pursuing her dream to become a doctor. She says, "I've learned that no matter how much I want to separate and see the differences of 2020 or 2019 and see how different it is from the 1950s, it hurts just as much. These cycles just keep on happening. They just manifest themselves in different ways."
Kiyaana-Cox Jones is the assistant director of multicultural life at Muhlenberg College and plays the matriarch of the Younger family, Lena. She also shares the stage with her son, Messiah, who is a sixth grader at Orefield Middle School. Cox-Jones says, "there's so much truth in this piece that everyone who comes gets to find different parts of it. If you're a mother, a father, a dreamer, if you are living in poverty trying to hold on to the last bit of money you have from a welfare check, whatever it is, there is hope for you."
Emmy Award nominee, Jeffrey Page is the guest artist/director. He's choreographed Beyonce for more than 12 years and spearheaded the Tokyo Productions of the musical Memphis. He hopes this production shifts the minds of those who come.
"I hope that audiences walk away with a deeper level of acceptance for their fellow man. Everyone is not of the same class. That shouldn't mean that every person doesn't deserve the value of education, the value of attention. Audiences should start to understand that the people we silence, they're affected by our silence and we have to do a better job as far as making sure we are leaning in and attending to everyone who is in this society."
The show runs Thursday, February 20th through the 23rd at The Baker Theatre in the Trexeler Pavilion for Theatre and Dance. You can purchase tickets here.