Writer’s Quote Wednesday 2015

This week, the quote I selected for Writers Quote Wednesday 2015 is:

Lorraine Hansberry is best known for her work as a playwright.

Hansberry passed away in 1965, at the young age of 34, two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Before she died, two of her plays reached the stage.

1. A Raisin in the Sun (1959) 

The story of a struggling African-American family living in segregated Chicago during the 1950s.  She originally titled the play, “The Crystal Stair,” but later renamed it to “A Raisin in the Sun” taken from Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem” —

“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”  

Today, “A Raisin in the Sun,” shows up on the list of the National Theatre as “among the 20th century’s 100 most significant works.”

Honors, Recognition and Awards 

• The First African-American Woman to write a play performed on Broadway.
• The Youngest American to win a New York Critic’s Circle Award.
• The winner of the Cannes Film Festival Award in 1961 for the film version of the play.

 2. The Sign in Sidney Brunstein’s Window (1965)

Hansberry’s second play, about politics and activism, received mixed reviews and closed the day after her death.

Posthumous Works

Hansberry’s ex-husband compiled and adapted some of her works with:

• The production “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” one of the longest running off-Broadway plays and rated as the most successful during the 1968-69 season; and, in 1970, it was published in book form.
• The musical, “Raisin,” in 1973 won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
• Two 1972 television scripts, “The Drinking Gourd” and “What Use Are Flowers?”.
• “Les Blancs:  The Collected Last Plays of Lorraine Hansberry” edited and completed in 1972.
• The 2004 Broadway revival of “Raisin in the Sun,” which received a Tony Award Nomination.

Thank you, Silver Threading, for hosting this weekly event.  The seed planted by Writer’s Quote Wednesday 2015 led me to research and find, until now, the unknowns about my favorite authors,

Finally, I gathered the information shared in this post from the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry

http://www.biography.com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823

http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/hansberryLorraine.php

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/a-raisin-in-the-sun/lorraine-hansberry-biography

http://archive.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/hansberry.html

http://www.gradesaver.com/author/lorraine-hansberry

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/254536/Lorraine-Hansberry

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Lorraine_Hansberry.aspx