Starletta DuPois and Charlotte Williams
By Darlene Donloe
Lorraine Hansberry’s
classic play, A Raisin In The Sun is
one of those popular and revered shows that has actually become a standard
bearer in black theater.
The play, which
made history in its 1959 Broadway debut, won the Best Play Award from the New
York Drama Critic’s Circle and made Hansberry a household name (the first black
woman to have a
play produced on
Broadway) and an admired playwright.
Raisin has been performed by the best actors and staged by the
best directors. It was both a staged production (directed by Lloyd Richards) and
a successful film starring Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ruby
Dee, Glynn Turman and Lou Gossett, Jr. In 2008, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald,
Sean Combs and Sanaa Lathan starred in a television film directed by Kenny
Leon.
There really is
no need to revise the beloved tome unless there is something new or riveting to
add.
The Ruskin Group
Theatre in Santa Monica delivers a worthy opponent with its production
currently playing through Sept, 17, 2016.
The
character-driven play, set in the Younger home in the Washington Park
Subdivision of Chicago’s south-side Woodlawn neighborhood, is a drama that
peels back the many layers and issues of family, friendship and
desperation. The show focuses on a black
family’s struggle to get their heads above water by putting to good use a
$10,000 life insurance check they receive after the patriarch’s death.
(l-r) Josh
Drennen, Redaric Williams, Jaden Martin,
Angelle Brooks, Charlotte Williams,
and Starletta Dupois
The son, a worn
out and weary Walter Lee (Redaric Williams), dreams of opening his own liquor business,
while his wide-eyed, optimistic sister Beneatha (Charlotte Williams) plans to
go to medical school. Walter’s wife, Ruth (Angelle Brooks) looks forward to
getting out of the rat and roach infested tenement, while the matriarch of the
family, Mama Lena (Starletta DuPois) is just trying to hold her family together.
The three
generations of exhausted family members inhabiting the apartment are in such
close proximity to each other – they have to leave the room to change their
minds.
Director Lita
Gaithers Owens has put together a solid, controlled cast that delivers
favorable performances that convey a family’s extreme anxiety.
Charlotte
Williams is a breath of fresh air as the young and spirited 20-year-old
Beneatha. Angelle Brooks is effective as
Ruth, the tired and loyal wife. Redaric Williams is probably the most buff
Walter Lee Younger on record. He delivers a beefed up portrayal. Veteran
actress Starletta DuPois is terrific as Mama Lena, giving a valiant
performance. Jaden Martin’s boyish charm
is just the right amount of cute for the role of Travis, the 11-year-old son of
Walter Lee and Ruth. Kristian Kordula’s performance as the uppity, well-to-do
college graduate George Murchison is fun and energetic.
(l-r) Kristian
Kordula and Charlotte Williams
The rest of the
cast buoys the production.
Owen’s direction
keeps the story moving forward throughout a well-conceived, restrictive stage
designed by Eric Barron. The set does its job – adding a layer of suffocation
that helps to signify the family’s plight, while at the same time becoming a
bond that holds this show together. It’s tight and effective lending itself to
the cramped quarters of an impoverished family in distress.
Kudos to
everyone involved in the Ruskin Group Theatre’s production of A Raisin In The Sun.
A Raisin In The Sun, directed by Lita Gaithers Owens, stars
Starletta DuPois, Redaric Williams, Charlotte Williams, Angelle Brooks, Jaden
Martin, Mohirah Hall, Kristian Kordula, Josh Drennen and Jarard Kings.
DONLOE SCALE: D
(don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likeable), O (oh, yeah) and E
(excellent), A Raisin In The Sun gets
an O (oh, yeah).
A Raisin In The Sun, Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport
Avenue, Santa Monica, CA; 8 p.m., Fri-Sat; 2 p.m. Sundays through September 17,
2016; $18-$25; 310 397-3244 or www.ruskingrouptheatre.com
Photos by Ed Krieger
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