A Raisin in the Sun

Sheri Parks (Essay Date 1995)

SOURCE: Parks, Sheri. "In My Mother's House: Black Feminist Aesthetics, Television, and A Raisin in the Sun." In Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics, edited by Karen Laughlin and Catherine Schuler, pp. 200-28. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995.

In the following essay, Parks contends that the 1989 PBS television production of A Raisin in the Sun effectively underscores Hansberry's central feminist themes.

The Public Broadcasting Station's television production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun was first aired in 1989 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the play's Broadway opening. The television production, currently available on videotape, was an ambitious one, particularly by public television standards, and tested the network's ability to deliver demanding material to a large audience. The PBS presentation was also truer to Hansberry's original message, marking the first time...