Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor returns this fall with the 11th installment of its Literature Live! program. This year’s production will be Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” directed by Lydia Fort.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the play’s first production on Broadway. The play tells the story of the Youngers, an African-American family living in an apartment tenement on the south side of Chicago. Their hope of escape from the suffocating tenement 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. In a transcendent climax, the family members eventually unify their dreams and take on the racist and segregationist policies of the time.
“A Raisin in the Sun” will be presented to school groups during the day at Bay Street with public performances offered Thursday to Saturday, November 14 to 16, 21 to 23 and Thanksgiving weekend, Friday to Sunday, November 29 to December 1.
“ʽLiterature Live!,’ now in its 11th year, is a shining example of Bay Street’s ongoing public education outreach,” says Susan Hanley Bay Street Theater’s Director of Development. "This year, our free student program will attract more than 2,000 students from over 28 schools. Bay Street is proud to bring American Theater from the page to the stage to students from Great Neck to Montauk.”
Again, this year, with the help of Century Arts Foundation and the Bay Street Board of Trustees, every dollar raised in support of the “Literature Live!” production will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000. Matching participants will be included in the playbill for all funds prior to October 30. To donate, call the development department at 631-725-0818 or email Susan Hanley at shanley@baystreet.org. Donations can also be made online at Baystreet.org.
To purchase tickets for the production, call 631-725-9500 or order online at baystreet.org.
Staff Writer on Oct 20, 2019