Last night, we opened the first-ever professional production of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. We are so excited to share Hansberry’s masterwork with you.
Roughly monthly, [The Feast] sends out “Project Notes:” a list of our inspirations and favorite things. In honor of our Opening Night, we’re sharing our favorite things about Lorraine Hansberry, or, as James Baldwin affectionately called her, “Sweet Lorraine.”
Join us in learning about Lorraine’s life and work, and see how it shows up in her exceptional The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window.
1. “We’ve joked a lot about my thotty crush on Lorraine from the 1960 David Attie Vogue photographs, but I truly think this whole gallery of images of Hansberry throughout her life is compelling. There’s something about the range of moments she’s captured in—reflective, joyful, comfortable, intensely focused, unguarded —that fills in some of the contours of her personality and her life.” —Executive Director Ellen Abram
2. “Inspired by the Hansberry quote ‘Never be afraid to sit a while and think,’ sculptor Alison Saar created a sculpture of Hansberry that debuted in Times Square in 2022. The sculpture is touring the United States this year—including a stop in Seattle, so keep your eyes peeled!”—Communications Manager Jesse Roth
3. Producing Director Dedra Woods helmed Hansberry’s other major work, A Raisin in the Sun, at Pittsburgh Public Theatre this fall. As part of her acting process, Dedra makes a playlist for each of her characters. For her playlist for Ruth, she writes:
“Two songs that are on there are “Giving Up” by Donny Hathaway and “This Woman’s Work” (The Maxwell Version). Both of those songs resonated with me and helped me to tap into the emotional depth that Lorainne requires of her characters in order for them to be in touch with their humanity. Her plays are filled with characters experiencing a full spectrum of emotions. Music has become an important part of my process and creating my playlist for Ruth helped me to root myself in her world.”
—Producing Director Dedra Woods
4. “This piece, from way back in 1999, is worth a read for anyone interested in the texture and complexity of Hansberry’s queer identity. It’s meticulously researched oral history, relying, as the intro says, ‘not…on institutions, but New York City dykes.’”—Executive Director Ellen Abram
In public she was the dignified, articulate civil rights spokeswoman and author of the groundbreaking 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. In private, she struggled to reconcile her marriage with a string of lesbian relationships and a lively gay social life.
Out Magazine
5. “So much of this excerpt from Imani Perry’s Looking for Lorraine is so interesting and valuable in understanding Hansberry’s and Baldwin’s work in relation to each other, but the bit that’s especially moving to me is Baldwin’s letter asking Hansberry to listen to him read from his almost-complete novel Another Country and give him feedback. For artists, that’s such an intimacy.” —Executive Director Ellen Abram
Intellectual partners read together and write together. They also, and this is really my point, can swim in each other’s imaginations.
Imani Perry, Looking for Lorraine