Denzel Washington in a Raisin in the Sun on B'wy

Scrawled upon the curtain prior to the the play was Langston Hughes' poem "a Dream Deferred" from which Hansberry took the title for her play. "What happens to a dream deferred?  Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?  A fascinating Studs Terkel interview of Lorraine Hansberry was being played.     Hansberry maintained a "realism" in her writing; "fiction demands the truth."  A RAISIN was 1st performed on B'wy in 1960, earning 4 Tony nominations, including best play & best actor (Sidney Poitier.)  Hansberry wrote her play in response to her family's lawsuit "Hansberry vs. Lee '1940" arguing racially motivated restrictions were issued to prohibit the family from purchasing a home.  The Fair Housing Act was not passed until 1968.  It's been debated whether Hansberry's play was writtten as a particular African Amer. experience or universal in subject.  As per the playwright's interview, her intent was aimed at racism directed at African Americans prior to the Civil Rights Movement.  Bruce Norris wrote the Tony & Pulitizer Prize winning play Clybourne Park in response to Hansberry play.  Norris' play has a modern twist regarding issues of racial equality and human aspirations.  The events in Clybourne are prior to and after RAISIN.  Seeing this revival with Denzel, the play felt like a universal  play concerning the relationship between a husband & wife.  Walter (Denzel) needed his wife "to back him up." Walter's wife said "All I got to give him is nothing. Dreams - life is a barrel of disappointments."  The production, a Raisin in the Sun "just sags like a heavy load."  It doesn't explode with the power of a dream deferred.