Grape Expectations at Bay Street Theater

As part of its Literature Live! program, Bay Street Theater will stage a production of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play "A Raisin in the Sun" for both student and public audiences. This is the 60th anniversary of the play's first production on Broadway.

Directed by Lydia Fort, the public performances will be November 14 to December 1. School groups are invited to attend through a free student ticket initiative supported by donors. Tickets are on sale now and available online at baystreet.org, or by calling the box office at (631) 725-9500.

Hansberry wrote the groundbreaking play in 1959. It focuses on the Youngers, an African-American family living in a suffocating tenement on the South Side of Chicago. Hope of escape comes in the form of a $10,000 insurance check courtesy of a deceased patriarch, and each family has their 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 Travis to have his own room, while Beneatha, Walter’s sister, wants to become a doctor.

Literature Live! is a BOCES-approved Arts-in-Education program. Plays chosen are from the standards-based literature and are supported with teacher-developed lesson plans and reference materials. All performances are 90 minutes and weekday shows are followed by a question-and-answer session. Now in its 11th season, the program has served more than 60 schools and nearly 30,000 students and their educators.

School groups can reserve free tickets by contacting mary@baystreet.org.