Lorraine Hansberry Sculpture To Be Permanently Installed At Chicago's Navy Pier

Alison Saar's sculpture of prolific playwright Lorraine Hansberry will be unveiled at Chicago's Navy Pier as a part of the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative. This Initiative was created by The Lillys, an advocacy organization that promotes gender and racial parity in the American theater.

The sculpture, titled To Sit A While, features the figure of Hansberry surrounded by five bronze chairs, each representing a different aspect of her life and work. The life-size chairs are an invitation to the public to do just that: sit with her and think. The sculpture will be a permanent installation and a gift from the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative to Navy Pier and the city of Chicago, Hansberry's birthplace.

“Navy Pier is thrilled to have been selected as the permanent home for To Sit A While,” said Navy Pier's Vice President of Arts, Culture, and Engagement Erika Taylor. “We are honored to share the life and legacy of Lorraine Hansberry with over 8 million guests a year. Our mission as the People's Pier is to offer moments of discovery and wonder and this sculpture creates a literal and metaphorical space to reflect within the beauty of Polk Bros Park.”

A special dedication ceremony will be held on August 23rd at 5:45PM in partnership with Navy Pier in Polk Bros Park and will feature remarks from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Lillys Former Executive Director Julia Jordan, sculpture artist Alison Saar, and Navy Pier's Vice President of Arts, Culture, & Engagement, Erika Taylor. The ceremony will also include performances by writer, playwright, and poet Mahogany L. Browne with performance curation by Congo Square Theatre. The evening will conclude with an outdoor screening of the film A Raisin in the Sun (1961).

The dedication ceremony and screening are both free and open to the public and additional details can be found HERE.

As the birthplace of Hansberry and the setting of A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago will be the permanent home of the sculpture after a national tour of major cities including New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In each city, the Initiative worked with local theaters and social justice organizations to showcase the work of contemporary writers of color concurrent with the sculpture's placement. The sculpture of Hansberry has been traveling the U.S. since 2022 as a part of the Initiative's mission to honor the great American playwright and civil rights leader's legacy while investing in those following in her footsteps.

In celebration of this special installation, the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative will also partner with several local organizations in Chicago to present ancillary programming including:

“Lorraine Hansberry and Art as Place”

Wednesday, August 21 at 6:00pm

Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th S)

Panel featuring Lynn Nottage, Alison Saar, and more panelists to be announced in discussion on Hansberry and art as “place.” RSVP HERE.

“The Lasting Influence of Lorraine Hansberry”

in Partnership with the American Writers Museum

Thursday, August 22 at 6:00pm

American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor)

Panel featuring J. Nicole Brooks, Michelle Y. Moore, and Ericka Ratcliff from Congo Square Theatre in discussion about the lasting influence of Hansberry on their individual work, on American writing, and on the City of Chicago. Event occurring in person and online. RSVP for in person HERE and online HERE.

Additional, independent local programming honoring Hansberry's life and work will be hosted by Court Theatre from July 31-August 2 (Spotlight Reading Series: A Tribute to Lorraine Hansberry).

In October 2024, Guild Literary Complex will hold The Summit, a presentation of The Count (an ongoing study by the Lillys and the Dramatist Guild), which studies gender, race, and nationality of the creators of plays and musicals at theaters nationwide and fosters conversation about ongoing diversity in theater and parity for women and women of color. To learn more about The Summit and The Count, go HERE.

In addition to the sculpture, the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative has created a unique fellowship to make sure that the next generation is able to follow in Hansberry's footsteps, regardless of race, gender, or economic situation. Unlike existing university fellowships, this singular grant is primarily intended to cover the living expenses of two female and/or non-binary dramatic writers of color entering graduate school, with two additional recipients added each year. Each recipient receives $25,000 for each year of their education, ensuring that they have protected time to write, work with collaborators, and benefit from the guidance of professional mentors in their respective fields. They will go on to create for the stage, television, and film, and their work will reach millions.

The current Hansberry Lilly Playwright Fellows are Amalia Oliva Rojas and Danielle Stagger (class of 2023) as well as Darrin Terpstra and Morgan Webber-Ottey (class of 2024). All are currently enrolled in graduate playwriting programs at Columbia University, Yale University, Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Northwestern University, respectively.

To contribute to the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative and this important work, please visit: Donate - The Lorraine Hansberry Initiative.

ABOUT THE Lorraine Hansberry INITIATIVE

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry became the first Black female playwright on Broadway with her play A Raisin in the Sun. It continues to be one of the most produced plays in the world, but Hansberry's contribution to the world was far greater than that single play. Her entire body of work as an artist, journalist, and civil rights leader has proven to be as incisive and relevant today as it was during her short lifetime and deserves to be studied and revered as such.

Over sixty years later, female playwrights of color remain the most proportionally underrepresented demographic on American stages. Despite making up 20% of the population, holding 20% of the undergraduate degrees in English literature and in the performing arts, and being chosen by their peers for over 20% of the spots in national playwright organizations, prior to this unusual year following the murder of George Floyd, they only accounted for under 10% of professional productions.

Through this initiative, we will keep the current national conversation about race, justice, and economic equality going by honoring Lorraine Hansberry. We will add to the growing movement to honor women and people of color with physical monuments. And, we will alleviate the financial inequality that discourages women and non-binary playwrights of color from pursuing graduate degrees in her chosen art form.

Photo Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty Images