The Hansberry Project at ACT is pleased to present a benefit reading of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window, Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $25. Funds raised support ongoing development of Hansberry projects and new works.
Lorraine Hansberry is best remembered for creating two masterpieces of the American theatre. With A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry gave us a movingly authentic portrayal of black family life in the inner city. Five years later, with The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, she gave us an unforgettable portrait of a man struggling with his individual fate in an age of social and political upheaval. These two plays remain milestones in the American theater cannon, remarkable not only for their historical value, but also for their continued ability to engage the imagination and the heart.
Set in 1960s Greenwich Village, this funny and provocative play is inhabited by Sidney Brustein, a liberal intellectual, his wife Iris (an aspiring actress), and their kooky circle of friends and family. Using the machinations around a stormy political campaign, Hansberry tackles the fragility of love, morality, drugs, rebellion, conformity, and commitment to the world.
In The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, she links sexuality and creativity. Some critics have misread David, the homosexual character who is a dramatist, as a negative portrayal. However, in spite of his immaturity, he is a positive image of commitment, artistic creativity, and meaningful sexuality. He is humanly complex, and the play makes a plea for maturity in sexuality, whatever form it takes.
More discussion about Lorraine Hansberry and the impact her work has had on LGBT’s can be found here.
Tickets to Saturday’s reading can be purchased at www.acttheatre.org.
