Review: A RAISIN IN THE SUN Closes the Year at Celebration Arts

When Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1959, she became the first African American woman to have a play performed on Broadway. Its themes of discrimination and resiliency continue to be as relevant now as they were when it was written, and it is still being taught in schools as an eye-opening account of the African American experience. Celebration Arts recently concluded its talent-filled adaptation of this classic with sold-out performances to close out their 2023 Season of “Overcoming.”

A Raisin in the Sun is a detailed examination of family dynamics. Faulty at the best of times, these relationships are further strained under the pressures of poverty, racism, and jealousy all percolating in cramped quarters. Mama (Tammie Denyse) is the family matriarch, trying her best to undo decades of generational trauma while keeping her family together in a changing society. Tammie Denyse brings years of experience as a veteran of the show and bears well the heavy responsibility of shouldering the family’s burdens. Also trying to fight her way out of the ghetto is Mama’s daughter, Beneatha (Jasmine Washington). Washington plays the powerful black sister role with sass, intelligence, and grit. It’s almost disappointing when she forgives her brother, Walter (Donald Lacy), for his irresponsible transgressions that come very close to cementing the family’s complete financial ruin. We cheer for her to continue chasing her dreams right out of the dark and tiny tenement in Chicago into the bright, shiny world of academia and success, despite Walter’s best efforts to derail her. Lacy does a believable job as Walter: passionate and stuck in a dead-end job serving whites, making him bitter towards everyone and causing a rift with his family. Sené Goss is his ever-suffering wife, Ruth. Like the biblical Ruth, Goss possesses a preternatural calm, eventually drawing upon her character’s deep faith, loyalty, and determination to lead her family to a better life. Goss’ expert navigation of such a complex figure weaves the family together, tighter and better than ever.

While I wasn’t aware that Celebration Arts has been serving the Sacramento community for thirty-seven years, I am excited to have finally been introduced to their offerings. Housed in the space previously occupied by the B Street Theatre, Celebration Arts is looking ahead to 2024 and their upcoming season of “Black Girl Magic,” featuring black women playwrights and directors. Tickets go on sale January 1st for their next show, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. For more information, visit CelebrationArts.net.

Photo credit: Jonathan Martinez