Possum Point Players to Present A RAISIN IN THE SUN

When Possum Point Players produce the drama, "A Raisin in the Sun," they bring to the stage a play that has won many awards from Drama Critic's Award for Best Play of the Year in 1959 to the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2014. At 29, the playwright, the late Lorraine Hansberry, was the youngest American and the only black dramatist ever to win the Best Play of the Year Award. The play was praised as being groundbreaking and changing American theatre forever.

Possum Point Players present "A Raisin in the Sun," June 10, 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees are at 2 pm. Tickets are $18, adults, and $17, students and seniors, and may be purchased at www.possumpointplayers.org or by calling 856-4560.

To present this powerful play, director John Marino of Lewes has assembled a cast of many seasoned and some new actors from many communities on Delmarva. Ajalon Ayers, Lemmon Pitts and Pam Taylor are from Milford, and Rosa Barnes and Chuck Rafferty from Laurel. Arthur Paul is from Dover, Claudius Bowden from Georgetown and Bob Scannell is from Lewes. Berlinda Grant from Millsboro, William Bratten, Milton, and Lillian Blake of Salisbury, MD, round out the cast.

This cast is charged with bringing to life what Hansberry stated about writing "A Raisin in the Sun." She wanted to tell "the truth about people, Negroes and life." The play had its origins in the playwright's own life experiences in the 1930s. As a child, her family moved from the ghettos of Chicago into a "restricted" white neighborhood where they were harassed and threatened by neighbors, and even evicted by Illinois courts. The Hansberry family fought the eviction to the United States Supreme Court where a landmark decision outlawing racially motivated neighborhood restrictive covenants was handed down. Even as it illustrates a family's struggle to retain their dignity in a harsh and changing world, "A Raisin in the Sun" carries a message of hope and inspiration.

"A Raisin in the Sun" is being produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

Possum Point Players is supported, in part, by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.