A Raisin in the Sun

March 15 – July 19, 2026 Angus Bowmer Theatre

Suitability and Accessibility Director Notes Creative Team Cast The Venue Education Events

“What happens to a dream deferred?”

On the South Side of 1950s Chicago, the Younger family lives under one roof, bound together by love, struggle, and shelved dreams. When a life insurance check arrives after the death of their father, it sparks a chance to break free—from poverty, from their cramped apartment, and from the limits of a deeply segregated society. But each family member sees a different future, and the choices they make test everything they believe about identity, pride, and possibility. One of the greatest American dramas ever written, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is fierce, tender, and as urgent now as when it first debuted in 1959. OSF Artistic Director Tim Bond brings to life a powerful revival of this seminal work The New York Times called “The play that changed American theatre forever.”

Approximate running time: 3 hours, including one intermission.

Produced in Association with Shakespeare Theatre Company
Simon Godwin, Artistic Director – Angela Lee Gieras, Executive Director

A Raisin in the Sun is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

2026 Tickets!

On sale now.
Prices start at $41

Buy Tickets

Suitability Suggestions

This is a truly great and deeply moving play, a classic of the American theatre and the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. There is some mild profanity, and one character uses a homophobic term as an insult towards a straight character. One of the characters considers having an abortion, but it is only discussed euphemistically. The “n-word” is used once by a Black character to another. Suitable for most; student groups are strongly encouraged to make this play a part of their visit this season. Preface recommended.

For additional content warnings regarding violence or graphic depictions that may be upsetting to some audience members, please see our Content Warnings page (may contain spoilers).

Accessibility

The Angus Bowmer Theatre is outfitted with an elevator that takes patrons to either Row E or Row K.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. Please visit our Accessibility page for details about 2025 programs and services as th

A RAISIN IN THE SUN | Behind the Scenes with Tim Bond

View rehearsal photo gallery.

Director’s Notes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

When Lorraine Hansberry selected a phrase from this poem by Langston Hughes as her title and printed the entire poem as an epigram to accompany the play, she wasn’t seeking to answer Hughes’s queries. She was restating the questions the poem asks repeatedly in each scene and with each character’s pursuit of their own dreams throughout the play. In a larger sense, the question “What happens to a dream deferred?” is being asked of all of us in the audience as well. In 2026, perhaps the question is: How do we hold onto hope and continue to find the courage to dream, when divisiveness and violence play out with a vengeance across our nation, a cruel and vicious backlash to 70 years of gains in civil and human rights?

The radical act of “dreaming” isn’t about “fantasizing”; it’s about taking concrete actions to achieve one’s life pursuits against a society and the systems that are set up to thwart those pursuits’ self-actualization. Lorraine was an activist, a poet, a lesbian, an unabashed socialist, and a playwright who was ahead of her time. With A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry presaged the intersectionality of a multitude of forces—linking housing discrimination, wealth inequality, feminism, racism, and colonialism in Africa long before it was part of common discourse; she then artfully wove these observations into the characters and plot of this play.

After Lorraine Hansberry’s untimely death in 1965 (she was only 34), the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. praised her vital role in shaping civil rights discourse through her art and activism: her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn.

I believe that the theatre is a sacred space, a place of possibility, of hope, of dreams, and a safe space to collectively celebrate and witness the resilience and indomitability of the human spirit. We need Lorraine Hansberry’s words now more than ever. We must not lose the courage to pursue the radical act of dreaming and creating a better society for all people.

—Tim Bond