Wednesday, April 24, 2002

BY BARBARA TRAININ BLANK
For The Patriot-News

During her short life, Lorraine Hansberry won accolades and awards, notably for "A Raisin in the Sun," her landmark play about the black experience in America.

In 1959, her first play won the New York Drama Circle Award for Best Play of the Year, competing against works by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.

Set in Chicago in the 1950s and based partly on Hansberry's family life, "A Raisin in the Sun" chronicles three generations of a family struggling to escape ghetto life.

It is a play of its time and place but also addresses still unresolved issues of racial segregation and stereotyping.

Like all good plays, it is particular and universalist, touching not only on racism and economic challenges but also on personal issues -- family trust and conflict, sacrifice, cultural identity and the battle of the sexes.

It's a poignant play that might induce tears yet has its joyous, even funny, moments.

Theatre Harrisburg is to be thanked for offering viewers the opportunity to see it.

The play's complexity almost takes those unfamiliar with it by surprise.

Director Thomas G. Hostetter lets the action and emotions build slowly. The cast, a blend of veteran and new actors, overall assists him well.

Eric Jackson Sr. is powerful as Walter Lee Younger, desperate to take control of his family and his dreams. There are moments when his performance threatens to become too emotional, but then he catches himself and leaves you moved.

Versatile Diane Hetes brings the right blend of humor, dignity and will to the role of the strong, well-intentioned, but sometimes domineering Mama.

Patrea Womack is never fully at ease during her down moments onstage as Ruth, but in interaction with the others, she's credible in the role of Walter Lee's alienated, yet loving, wife, Ruth.

An attractive Manuela Hooper captures Beneatha Younger's provocative blend of postadolescent rebellion, confusion and sassiness.

Armando Bastista is appealing as Beneatha's rich college-boy beau. Christopher M. McLamb brings a fine cadence to his speech and a bemused seriousness to his portrayal of the young woman's preferred suitor.

Darcel Garnett-Lee is memorable as Mrs. Johnson, a nosy neighbor who could have been borrowed from situation comedy if not for her significant social views. Samuel K. Johnson, onstage for the first time, does well in the part of Walter's friend and would-be business partner, Bobo.

Seventh-grader Louis R. Williams has the right mischief and stage presence for the role of the Youngers' son, Travis. Ed Costik gives a multilayered performance as Karl Lindner, a representative of the integrated community the Youngers hope to move into.

The set, by Craig Peiffer, is clever, especially the sections through which we can view Walter Lee and Ruth's bedroom and the hallway outside their apartment at certain times of day. The drawback is that the set doesn't convey the peeling plaster and other unappealing descriptions of the surroundings offered by the playwright. And the size of the Whitaker stage suggests a roominess the Younger apartment clearly doesn't have.

But these are minor criticisms in a fine production.