Bay Street Theater Screens 'A Raisin in the Sun'

In advance of its upcoming “Literature Live!” production of “A Raisin in the Sun” in November, on Sunday, October 20, at 2 p.m. Bay Street Theater will present a screening of the 1961 film-version of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, which premiered on Broadway 60 years ago. The film is an adaptation of the play.

The film stars Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett Jr. in his film debut. Hansberry wrote “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1958 and won a Pulitzer Prize. She also wrote the screenplay version of the script.

The play focuses on the Youngers, an African-American family living in an apartment tenement on the South Side of Chicago. The hope of escape from their living situation comes in the form of a $10,000 insurance check courtesy of the family’s deceased patriarch. Each member of the Younger family has his or her own version of the American Dream that the insurance money could fulfill: Lena, the mother, wants to purchase a house in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park; Walter Lee, the son, wants to invest in a liquor store; Ruth, his wife, simply wants their child to have his own room; while Beneatha, Walter’s sister, wants to become a doctor. The Younger family eventually unify their dreams and take on the racist and segregationist policies of the time in a transcendent climax.

Following the screening will be a talkback session led by Allen O’Reilly, director of education and community outreach for Bay Street. Tickets for the film and talkback are $12 at baystreet.org or 631-725-9500. Bay Street Theater is on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor.