Review: A RAISIN IN THE SUN at Taproot Theatre

Dear Readers, in the past I’ve talked about plays that are essential for your theatrical education, plays that are just good for you.  If those fluff plays out there are candy, then these essentials are your vegetables.  Once such play is Lorraine Hansberry’s Pulitzer Prize winning classic from 1959, “A Raisin in the Sun”, considered by many to be one of the best plays written.  But there’s nothing saying that these essential plays can’t be entertaining, as is evident in the current production at Taproot Theatre.  They’ve expertly given us our veggies but cooked them to perfection and given some delicious seasoning or sauce to make it all go down well.

Hansberry’s insanely well written piece covers a myriad different topics, but at its heart it’s about racism and assimilation as is experienced by the Younger family.  The five members of the family, the matriarch Lena (Marlette Buchanan), her son Walter Lee (Arlando Smith) and his wife Ruth (Shermona Mitchell) and son Travis (Ajani Dickerson on the night I saw), and Lena’s daughter Beneatha (Deja Culver) all live in a run down two-bedroom apartment on the south side of Chicago.  It’s crowded and money is tight, but they make it work.  But when Lena gets an insurance payout from her late husband’s life insurance policy, this could mean big things for the Youngers.  Lena wants to buy a house and move the family to a nicer neighborhood.   Walter Lee has big dreams and wants to use the money to make those dreams come true.  And Beneatha wants to go to medical school.  But each of those dreams come up against major obstacles, not the least of which is a white neighborhood that doesn’t want a black family to move in.

Hansberry deftly manages all these issues and more with brilliant dialog that never feels forced or expository.  Instead, she manages to the audience get lost in the lives of this hard-working family and to come to love them all, even with their faults.  The play is simply a theatrical triumph that needs to be experienced.  And as directed by Bretteney Beverly, this family springs to life with some brilliant staging and pacing that makes this almost 3-hour play fly by.  And I must mention a fantastic set from Mark Lund that encapsulates the cramped practicality of the apartment beautifully.

The cast is laden with powerhouse performances, especially from the three leads.  Buchanan gives a no-nonsense portrayal of this woman.  She’s in charge and they all know it, even when she cedes her power to them.  And even as things begin to fall apart, you see the cracks in her armor but she quickly holds them all together.  On the other side of the coin is Smith as Walter Lee, a dreamer who wants it all and now, and when things don’t go like he wants, he comes out barking like a mad dog.  And then there’s Mitchell who truly blew me away.  She brings a quiet strength to Ruth.  She’s there for the family, even at her own expense.  And even as she’s keeping the peace, you can see that at times it’s killing her.  And when it all becomes too much, we get an incredibly vulnerable and heartfelt performance. 

It's a stunning production of a stunning play and begs to be seen and devoured.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give Taproot Theatre’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun” a mesmerized YAY+.  Now sit down at the table and eat your veggies.  Trust me, they’re delicious.

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