Producer Scott Rudin Addresses A RAISIN IN THE SUN Age Issues

Tony Award-winner and two-time Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington will star as Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, opposite film, television and Tony Award-winning stage star Diahann Carroll as Lena Younger, on Broadway next spring.

Washington's character, Walter Lee Younger, is described in Hansberry's script as "a lean, intense young man in his middle thirties". But Washington is 60. Producer Scott Rudin addressed this age difference in an interview published today on Newsday.

"When a great artist wants to do a great American play, people want to see it. I don't think age matters," Rudin said. "Denzel feels a huge, huge responsibility to the play...He has a clear idea of how he wants to do it. Classics stay alive because a great actor or a great director wants to do them."

Read the original report here.

The production will be directed by Tony Award-nominee Kenny Leon. Previews begin March 8, 2014, with opening night on April 3, 2014 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street), where the original production of A Raisin in the Sun opened 55 years ago. A Raisin in the Sun is a limited engagement, running 14 weeks only through June 15, 2014.

The production will also star Academy Award-nominee Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) making her Broadway debut as Ruth Younger and Tony Award-winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change) as Beneatha Younger. Sophie Okonedo is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association.

Rounding out the cast are Stephen Tyrone Williams (Lucky Guy) as Joseph Asagai, Jason Dirden (Fences) as George Murchison, and Tony Award-nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences) as Bobo. Additional casting will be announced soon.

Originally produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, where it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. The Washington Post has called it "one of a handful of great American plays - it belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman and Long Day's Journey into Night." The New York Times has hailed it as "the play that changed American theatre forever".

Set on Chicago's South Side, A Raisin in the Sun revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee (Denzel Washington), his wife Ruth (Sophie Okonedo), his sister Beneatha (Anika Noni Rose), his son Travis and matriarch Lena, called Mama (Diahann Carroll). When her deceased husband's money comes through, Mama dreams of moving to a new home and a better neighborhood in Chicago. Walter Lee, a chauffeur, has other plans: buying a liquor store and being his own man. Beneatha dreams of medical school. The tensions and prejudice they face form this seminal American drama.

Scenic design is by Mark Thompson. Costume design is by Ann Roth. Lighting design is by Brian MacDevitt.

Washington was last seen on Broadway in Fences, for which he won a 2010 Tony Award. He made his Broadway debut in Checkmates (1988). Other theatre credits include Richard III, The Mighty Gents, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, When the Chickens Come Home to Roost and A Soldier's Play, for which he won an Obie. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his performances in Training Day and Glory, and received Oscar nominations for his performances in The Hurricane, Malcolm X and Cry Freedom. His latest film, 2 Guns, was just released.