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American Icon Series

Join us over several seasons as we celebrate the artists, personalities and opinion leaders who boldly changed our world. First up: Lorraine Hansberry, the first African American female writer to have a play performed on Broadway.

by Lorraine Hansberry
directed by Khanisha Foster
Julianne Argyros Stage

OCT. 22 - NOV. 12, 2023
$29-$105

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

HONORARY PRODUCERS
Timothy & Marianne Kay/Argyros Family Foundation
Nickie & Mickey Williams

MEDIA PARTNERS
KJLH Radio 102.3 FM  

60TH SEASON SPONSOR
South Coast Plaza

A Raisin in the Sun

This groundbreaking drama changed the American theatre forever, breaking down barriers on and off stage. Each of the Youngers, a Black family, has a different view of how to spend their father’s life insurance settlement to better the family. Will they open a business, send Beneatha to medical school or move to an all-white suburb? Praised for its “vigor as well as veracity” by the New York Times, this masterpiece seeks answers to the still-relevant questions posed in Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem: What happens to a dream deferred?

Previews: Oct. 22-26, 2023
First Night: Oct. 27, 2023
Regular Performances: Oct. 28 - Nov. 12, 2023
American Sign Language Performance: Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.

Recommendation: Age 13+

Running time: Approximately two hours and 40 minutes with one intermission.

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About the Creative Team

When Lorraine Hansberry’s (1930-1965) A Raisin in the Sun appeared on Broadway in 1959, the artist became, at 29, the youngest American playwright, the fifth woman, and the only African American to date to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year. The play represented a landmark. In its authentic depiction of Black American life, and the vivid demonstration of so gifted a creator, cast and director, it made it impossible for the American stage to ignore African American creativity and subject matter thereafter. In 1961, the film version won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Screen Writer’s Guild Award for Hansberry’s screenplay. In 1965, Lorraine Hansberry died of cancer at age 34. As if prescient, in the six years she had between the triumph of her first play and her death, she was extraordinarily prolific. Her second play to be produced on Broadway, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, was in its early run, to mixed reviews, when Hansberry died; the curtain came down on that date. To Be Young, Gifted and Black, an autobiographical portrait in her own words adapted by her former husband and literary executor Robert Nemiroff, was posthumously produced in 1969 and toured across the country. In 1970, Les Blancs, her play about the inevitability of struggle between colonizers and colonized in Africa, and the impending crisis that would surely grow out of it, ran on Broadway to critical acclaim. During her career as a playwright, Hansberry wrote many articles and essays on literary criticism, racism, sexism, homophobia, world peace and other social and political issues. At her death, she left behind file cabinets holding her public and private correspondence, speeches and journals, and various manuscripts in several genres: plays for stage and screen, essays, poetry, and an almost complete novel. – The Lorraine Hansberry Trust

Nathan Broxton

Nathan Broxton (Travis Younger) is a middle schooler and actor passionate about writing stories, video games, singing, and acting. His current career goals include becoming a storyteller (acting, writing, directing and animation). Previously, he has performed in The Little Mermaid Jr. at the Arts and Learning Conservatory. With credits as an actor in multiple national print and video campaigns, Broxton is just commencing his bright career. When he isn’t performing and working on school, he’s chatting with friends on Discord, and going viral on social media for his relatable commentary on life and his epic musical theater lip syncs.


Tiffany Yvonne Cox

Tiffany Yvonne Cox* (Ruth Younger) (she/her) is a first generation Trinidadian actress, director, writer, and producer. She is proud to have A Raisin in the Sun as her first production at South Coast Repertory. She has been seen on regional stages such as Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Santa Monica Repertory Theater, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Theatreworks and more. Her select television credits include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dead To Me,” “Good Trouble” and “American Horror Story.” She currently can be seen recurring on the Kerry Washington, Larry Wilmore and Raamla Mohammed Hulu show, “Reasonable Doubt,” which was renewed for Season 2. Cox is also one of the leads in the Hallmark film Napa Ever After. Her select directing and producing credits include: Star Vehicle (director); “Commune” (producer); Roadside Assistance (director and producer); and the podcast play LaDonna’s Epiphany (director) featuring Anna Maria Horsford. Follow her work at tiffanyyvonnecox.com and roadsideassistancewkshp.com.


Alicia Coca

Ashembaga (Ashe) Jaafaru* (Beneatha Younger) is an actor, dancer, writer, artistic administrator, and creative/arts director. She has been involved in theatre, film, movement and voiceover work in the Twin Cities and beyond since 2009. Jaafaru creates art for liberation of the mind, body and SPIRIT and will continue to write and produce imaginative stories. Recent theatre and film credits include All My Niggas Surround Me, And I’m Surrounded By All My Niggas (creative direction/acting coach); a film with Jai Stephenson, Mlima’s Tale (assistant director) with Ten Thousand Things; Weathering (Neighbor/Turtle) with Penumbra Theatre; JOY ON ME (myself) with Pillsbury House Theatre; Impact Theory of Mass Extinction (Fahari) with In The Heart of the Beast Theater; Nearly (Lala) a film with Atlese Robinson; Zuri’s Tree (Ava) a film with Adja Gildersleve; Buttafly Precinct (Lady) a Zoom play with Catalyst Arts; Keon (Patience) a film with FreeStyle Films; The Convert (Jekesai) with Frank Theatre; for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (Lady in Brown) with Kansas City Repertory and Penumbra Theatre; A Midsummer Summer Night’s Dream (Hermia) with Black Ensemble Players; School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play (Paulina) with Jungle Theater and Arkansas Rep Theater.


Erron Jay

Erròn Jay* (Bobo/Moving Man/Ensemble) is thrilled to be making his California Theatre debut at SCR in this production of A Raisin in the Sun. Theatre credits include the world premiere of Harriet Jacobs at Steppenwolf Theatre, Two Trains Running at Merle Reskin Theatre, Sueno at Merle Reskin Theatre, A New Brain at The Athenaeum and The Bacchae of Euripides at Gillioz Theatre. His television credits include “Lucifer,” “No Good Nick,” “KC Undercover” and “Famous Crime Scenes.” He received his BFA in Theatre from Missouri State University and his MFA in Acting from The Theater School at DePaul University. Jay is a professor of acting at AMDA’s LA campus. He is grateful for the opportunity and for the support of his family and friends. He is represented theatrically by Daniel Hoff Agency, commercially by Osbrink, and managed by ShuShu Entertainment. He can be found on social media @erronjay or online at erronjay.com


Veralyn Jones

Veralyn Jones* (Lena Younger (Mama)) (she/her) is thrilled to return to SCR in the role of Mama. Other SCR appearances include A Christmas Carol, My Wandering Boy and Ben and the Magic Paintbrush. Some LA credits include Seven Guitars, Gem of the Ocean, Argonautika and Madwoman of Chaillot all at A Noise Within, where she is a Resident Artist and Board Member; Immediate Family (Mark Taper Forum, Understudy); A Selfish Sacrifice (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White and Hamlet at (Anteaus Theatre Company); A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre); The Old Settler (International City Theatre); The Father (La Scala Theater, Stockholm, Sweden); Three Sisters After Chekhov (Lower Depth Theatre); The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard the III (Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company); and Othello (Boston Court Pasadena). Some television credits include “Equalizer” (recurring), “Girls On the Bus” (recurring), “Nana,” “S.W.A.T,” “Locked Away,” “The Unit,” “Southland,” “Brooklyn South,” “Threat Matrix,” “City of Angels” (recurring), “The Young and the Restless” (recurring) and “Seinfeld” (recurring). She has been awarded StageRaw, StageScene LA awards, and is a two-time LA Weekly Theatre Award winner. She is the Co-Founder and Associate/Producer at Lower Depth Theatre and a proud long-time member of Antaeus Theatre Company and the Actors Studio. Love always to G & K! “Every freedom comes with responsibility!”


C.J. Lindsey

C.J. Lindsey* (Walter Lee Younger) is honored to make his debut at South Coast Repertory. He is a graduate of Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College and has had the privilege to work in regional theaters around the country, most notably in the production of August Wilson’s Jitney at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Most recently, he starred as Lt. James Walker in the West Coast premiere of Warren Leight’s brand new play Homefront, as well as Xavier in Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline at the Peterborough Players. He has also worked in both film and television, most recently with a leading role in the film All the Men in My Life, starring his wife Rochelle Aytes and television roles on Kevin Hart’s “True Story” for Netflix, “S.W.A.T.” for CBS, “Tales” for BET and “Angie Tribeca” for TBS.


David Nevell

David Nevell* (Mr. Karl Lindner) previously appeared at SCR in Shakespeare in Love, Peter and the Starcatcher and Arms and the Man, as well as the recent Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of A Million Tiny Pieces. Other Southern California appearances include Twelve Angry Men, Driving Miss Daisy and The Odd Couple at Laguna Playhouse; The Price, A Walk in the Woods and God of Carnage at International City Theatre; Twelfth Night at New Swan Shakespeare; The Morini Strad at The Colony; and The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and Romeo & Juliet at Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. Regionally, Nevell appeared in The Scene at Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara; Amphitryon at Huntington Theatre Company; The Crucible at Pittsburgh Public Theatre; Henry VIII and The Tempest at Utah Shakespeare Festival; A Christmas Carol at Geva Theatre; Crazy for You, On Borrowed Time and My Fair Lady at La Mirada Theatre; The Game of Love and Chance at San Jose Repertory; and in numerous roles while a resident artist at Pacific Conservatory Theatre/PCPA. Nevell earned his MFA in Acting at UC Irvine and his BA in Political Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. davidnevell.com


Junior Nyong'o

Junior Nyong'o* (Joseph Asagai) is an actor, musician and DJ from Nairobi, Kenya. He is a recent MFA Acting graduate from UC San Diego (Class of ‘23). Regional credits include King Lear (Santa Cruz Shakespeare), The Outsiders (La Jolla Playhouse), Valor (Guthrie Theatre), Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius, Twelfth Night and Shakespeare in Love (Orlando Shakes). juniornyongo.com

 


Tristan Turner

Tristan Turner* (George Murchison/Moving Man) (he/him/his) is an alumni of UC Irvine’s Graduate Acting Program, and made his debut with SCR in last season’s Outside SCR production of La Havana Madrid. Past credits include Pru Payne (world premiere) with Arizona Theatre Company, Twelfth Night at Utah Shakespeare Festival and The Addams Family with 5-Star Theatricals. Follow his journey on Instagram at @turnerhudo. Thanks for coming!


Mikayla Conley

Mikayla Conley (Understudy for Beneatha Younger) recently appeared in South Coast Repertory’s production of Our Town, as well as the Pacific Playwright’s Festival reading of how to roll a blunt by Naomi Lorrain. Conley was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and has been a part of the theatre arts for approximately 10 years. She was cast in multiple productions as a child, attended Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and continued her dance training into high school. She received most of her theatre training from California State University, Long Beach, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts. She hopes to continue her journey in Theatre, predominately working on pieces that reflect the complexities of the human condition. 


Kaci Hamilton

Kaci Hamilton (Understudy for Lena Younger (Mama)/Ruth Younger) (she/hers/her) is thrilled to be returning to the SCR stage. Most recently she performed as Mr. Brown in Bleu Beckford-Burrell’s Crassis (reading) at the Pacific Playwrights Festival, and as Addie in The Little Foxes. Other favourite credits include Uterine Leader in Menstruation: A Period Piece (Big Little Theatre Company), Cordelia in King Lear (staging), Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Portia/Messala in Julius Caesar (Warriors for Peace Theatre Company), Katherine/Boy in Henry V (Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre/World Shakespeare Congress in Brisbane, Australia), Tituba in The Crucible (Perseverance Theatre), and originating The Narrator in The List (The Player’s Theatre). Currently, she can be seen in the short Getaway, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto Black Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival and the Essence Festival. Her semi-autobiographical comedy pilot, A Jamaican in Alaska, was also recently selected for the 2023 Stowe Story Labs June Narrative Lab and the 2023 Athena Film Festival Virtual Writers Lab. Hamilton is a graduate of the William Esper Studio in New York. More at kacihamilton.com. 


Derrick A. King

Derrick A. King (Understudy for Walter Lee Younger) is making his SCR debut. Known for starring as Rev. Johnson in the CW’s “4400,” King hails from “PG County” Maryland. King studied Theatre Arts at Suitland High School before leaving for Clark Atlanta University, where he explored his passion for performance through a variety of platforms including hosting the 2010 B.E.T Black College Tour, and starring in YouTube’s Web series “College Boyfriends.” King was cast in ABC Network Discovers: LA Showcase, UCP’s “Flip The Script” presented by NBC Universal, and was the winner of MonologueSlamUK - LA. King went on to star in ITN’s Ouija House and BET’s Her Only Choice. King resides in Los Angeles, California, starring in episodes of Paramount+ “The Game,” “NCIS:LA” on CBS, and Starz “Run the World.” Derrickanthonyking.com


Zalen Dociard King

Zalen Dociard King (Understudy for George/Joseph/Bobo/Moving Man/Ensemble) is making his SCR debut. Known for starring as Rev. Johnson in the CW’s “4400,” King hails from “PG County” Maryland. King studied Theatre Arts at Suitland High School before leaving for Clark Atlanta University, where he explored his passion for performance through a variety of platforms including hosting the 2010 B.E.T Black College Tour, and starring in YouTube’s Web series “College Boyfriends.” King was cast in ABC Network Discovers: LA Showcase, UCP’s “Flip The Script” presented by NBC Universal, and was the winner of MonologueSlamUK - LA. King went on to star in ITN’s Ouija House and BET’s Her Only Choice. King resides in Los Angeles, California, starring in episodes of Paramount+ “The Game,” “NCIS:LA” on CBS, and Starz “Run the World.” Derrickanthonyking.com

Khanisha Foster (Director) (she/her) is the new Director of Equity, Belonging, and Engagement at Center Theatre Group. For her production of A New Brain (Celebration Theatre in association with the Los Angeles LGBT Center) Stage Scene LA awarded it Outstanding Direction and Best Production. She’s also directed the ripple the wave that carried me home (KC Rep), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Virginia Stage), Yellowman (Chance Theater) and for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (KC Rep). She’s also developed new works such as Dirty Laundry and Suburban Black Girl (Ojai Playwrights Conference), These Two Things (Geffen Playhouse: The Writers’ Room) and You Had A Good Run (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Broadway World named her Best Director for The Bluest Eye (Virginia Stage). Her writing and life experience—the daughter of a Black Panther father and a mother whose family invented Bubble Wrap—landed her a writing gig developing a TV series with K&L Productions (Kay Cannon & Laverne McKinnon). She and Julie Hébert (The Man in the High Castle) are adapting a Philip K. Dick novel with Electric Shepherd Productions. She’s a recipient of the TCG Fox Foundation Grant for Actors of Extraordinary Potential. khanishafoster.com


Josafath Reynoso (Scenic Design) (he/him) is making his SCR design debut. Regional credits include Much Ado about Nothing (American Players Theatre); American Mariachi (PCPA); the ripple, the wave that carried me home (KC Rep); The Glass Menagerie (Arizona Theatre Company); Once (Berkshire Theatre Group); Need Your Love (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Director’s Lab 2018 (Lincoln Center Theatre); The Hobbit, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Bluest Eye (Virginia Stage Company); Mamma Mia, Ella and Her Fella Frank, Fences (Virginia Repertory Theatre); The Inheritance Part 1&2 (ZACH Theatre); and Man of La Mancha, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Triad Stage). Internationally, his designs have appeared at Dublin Fringe Festival (Ireland); Hitler in My Heart, Arabian Night, La Sodomai (Argentina); Titus Andronicus, No Exit (Venezuela); Prague Quadrennial 2019 US Featured Artist (Czech Republic); International Biennale of Architecture 2016 (Argentina); Stage |Set |Scenery  2015 featured speaker (Germany); and Lamdè (Israel). He has been awarded the Opera America Robert Tobin Director-Designer Award (US); Richmond Critics Circle Award 2022/2019 (US); World Stage Design 2017 Gold Medal (Taiwan); USITT Scenic Design Award 2015 (US); and Larroque Theatre Festival First Place (Argentina). josafatherynoso.com


Wendell C. Carmichael (Costume Design) (he/him) is an L.A.-based Costume Designer/educator with previous design credits at Center Theatre Group - Mark Taper, Kirk Douglas, Laguna Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Ebony Repertory Theatre Company, Collaborative Artist Bloc, Lobby Theatre, Antaeus Theatre Company, Boston Court Pasadena, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Rogue Machine, Matrix Theatre, South Coast Repertory, La Mirada Theatre, Wherehouse Theatre, Skylight Theatre Company, Lower Depth Theatre, Chance Theater Company, and others. University and Colleges APU, USC, UCLA, Pomona College, Chapman University and University of La Verne productions: Three-time LA Critics Choice nominee, 2018 Stage Raw winner—Costume Design. Three-time L.A. Ovation Award nominee. 2017 Orange County’s Best Costume Designs. 2015 NAACP Theatre Award winner. Member of Local 768. His work can be viewed on social media @WynningzbyWyndell. 


Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (Lighting Design) is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he is the head of the lighting design program. He has designed for various regional theatres, such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Recent productions include La Havana Madrid at Outside SCR, and Anatomy of a Home and Interview of the Dead in Amsterdam. He has designed productions at SCR since 1994, including Million Dollar Quartet, American Mariachi, A Shot Rang Out, Outside Mullingar, The Whipping Man, Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy, La Posada Mágica, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, Doubt—a parable, My Wandering Boy, and many others. His recent designs include Little Mermaid at Syracuse Stage, Alma at the Kirk Douglas Theatre for CTG, Gem of the Ocean at TheaterWorks; Twelfth Night and African Company Presents: Richard III, along with producing a new Community-Engaged Play All the Towns a Stage: A Winona Story for the Great River Shakespeare Festival (where he is a Co-Associate Artistic Director) and many shows with Cornerstone Theater Company. He is a member of the United Scenic Artists, Local 829/International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. His complete design portfolio can be found at www.lradesigns.com. 


M. Glenn Schuster (Sound Design/Original Music) (they/them) is a sound designer originally hailing from San Francisco. Recent productions include This is Not a True Story with Artists at Play and Desert Stories for Lost Girls with Native Voices, both at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, American Fast with Constellation Stage and Screen, A New Brain with Celebration Theatre at the Davidson/Valentini Theatre, and A Little Night Music at Greenway Court. Their work can also be heard in Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots and Foodimals for the Amazon Alexa, and in The Sims 4 for EA. They obtained their BFA in Sound Design from the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Schuster also sits on the board of The Quinan Street Project, a theater education program that provides classes and camps to underfunded communities in the Contra Costa County of California. Hear more of their work at mglennsound.com 


Zharia O’Neal (Dramaturg) (she/her/hers) is a poet, playwright, and dramaturg hailing from the British Virgin Islands. O’Neal is the 2022 William S. Yellow Robe Jr. Playwright-in-Residence at Sound Theatre, 2023 Artist-in-Residence at Headlands Arts Center, an International Artists’ Fellow and 2022 graduate of the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at the University of Southern California. She has worked in association with the Ojai Playwrights’ Conference, Lobby Theatre, RealTime Productions, Playwrights’ Arena, and City Hearts.


Sasha Nicolle Smith (Intimacy & Fight Consultant) (she/her) is thrilled to be working at South Coast Repertory! Other theater credits include The Engagement Party, The Mountaintop, The Lonely Few and The First Deep Breath (Geffen Playhouse), The Notebook (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Ms. Blakk For President (Steppenwolf Theatre), Familiar (Steppenwolf Theatre), How To Catch Creation (Goodman Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie Theater), The Bluest Eye (Virginia Stage Company), Toni Stone (Milwaukee Rep), Trading Places (Alliance Theater) and Smart People (Writers Theater). Film and television credits include “Swarm” (Amazon), “Beef” (Netflix), “Tiny Beautiful Things” (Hulu), “Daisy Jones & The Six” (Amazon), Your Place or Mine (Netflix), “That ‘90s Show” (Netflix), “How I Met Your Father” (Hulu), “Random Acts of Flyness” (HBO), “The Rookie: Feds” (ABC), “The Chi” (Showtime), “Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls” (Amazon) and “Truth Be Told” (Apple TV+).


Natalie Figaredo (Production Stage Manager). Tours: My Fair Lady (first national tour).Regional credits include: Rainmaker, Staged, Island of the Blue Dolphins (Laguna Playhouse), La Havana Madrid, avaaz, Snow White, A Shot Rang Out, American Mariachi, Poor Yella Rednecks, Amos and Boris, Little Black Shadows, Junie B Jones Is Not A Crook, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Yoga Play, Mr. Poppers Penguins, Orange, Going to a Place where You Already Are, A Year With Frog and Toad (South Coast Repertory), The Cake (Geffen Playhouse and Echo Theater Company), With Love and a Major Organ (Boston Court) and What You Are, Twelfth Night (The Old Globe). She is a graduate of CSULB and The London Academy Of Music And Dramatic Art.


Gabrielle J. Bruno (Assistant Stage Manager) (she/her) is so excited to be working on this wonderful show for her first production at SCR! Notable stage management and assistant stage management credits include Mindplay and Ava: the Secret Conversations at the Geffen Playhouse; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Raisin in the Sun, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, A Christmas Carol, and Man of La Mancha at A Noise Within. She has also been the Production Manager of the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival presented by Independent Shakespeare Co from 2021-2023. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from California State University, Northridge. 

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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