For this unit, Matriarch in out Humanities class Drama, we read the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury. We discussed the role of women in society and how it has differed by time and place. We studied the housing crisis and the racist and sexist practices of the government. For this Action Project, we wrote a prologue for A Raisin in the Sun in the style of a Greek chorus. I found this project very interesting because it allowed us to take a very different perspective than we normally would because we put ourselves in the shoes of people living on the Southside of Chicago in the 1950s, which is very different than how we think now. I very much enjoyed trying out a new form of writing for this project, where the first word of every line repeats to emphasize the point of view of the community or the 3rd person. If you would like to read A Raisin in the Sun, there is a copy online here. Thank you for listening.
Prologue Script
Move back in time with us to the 50s
To an overcrowded, overpriced apartment where they are stuck
Ruth, Walter, Travis, Beneatha, and Mama,
All yearning to get out, to get better lives for their family.
Beneatha, the only one daring to be different
To find herself in her culture, not the one forced on her
Except for Walter, who only longs for riches for himself
Willing to give away anything and everything just to make a name for himself
Cheated into believing in a god that Beneatha shuns
Putting down the dreams of others to build himself up.
Travel to Chicago, where colors are separated by thick walls of fear
Where intolerance soaks the busy streets and judgment flies free
Where privilege is dense in small pockets and nonexistent in others
Where a little boy like Travis thinks he has to be a bus driver just because of the color of his skin
Where a little boy is not allowed to dream for himself
When it is still illegal to choose
Where desperate women like Ruth flock to danger in back alleys to save their dignity
Where husbands like Walter expect too much of their wives, who are suffering alone.
Where sisters like Beneatha need support in their dreams, but cannot find it inside the overcrowded, overpriced apartment
Where mothers like Lena just want harmony in their blood and a secure future for their progeny
Where families try to stay cohesive but are forced apart by circumstances that cannot change
Where the dread inside one woman is illegal, frowned upon, murder.
When even if it’s her choice, she is corrupted by something else in the eyes of others
Where husbands lock their wives’ bodies out of their minds
Where Ruth must choose between her living family and the family that might come
Where choice is a crime
Let’s go back to the United States when Eisenhower ruled with his pack of men
Where the growing group of cells inside Ruth would change everything
Script with Chorus- Act 1 Scene 2 pg 56
A Raisin in the Sun, SoundCloud. MDS, 2017.
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| A Raisin in the Sun Movie, 1953.Wikimedia Commons. |
Prologue Script
Move back in time with us to the 50s
To an overcrowded, overpriced apartment where they are stuck
Ruth, Walter, Travis, Beneatha, and Mama,
All yearning to get out, to get better lives for their family.
Beneatha, the only one daring to be different
To find herself in her culture, not the one forced on her
Except for Walter, who only longs for riches for himself
Willing to give away anything and everything just to make a name for himself
Cheated into believing in a god that Beneatha shuns
Putting down the dreams of others to build himself up.
Travel to Chicago, where colors are separated by thick walls of fear
Where intolerance soaks the busy streets and judgment flies free
Where privilege is dense in small pockets and nonexistent in others
Where a little boy like Travis thinks he has to be a bus driver just because of the color of his skin
Where a little boy is not allowed to dream for himself
When it is still illegal to choose
Where desperate women like Ruth flock to danger in back alleys to save their dignity
Where husbands like Walter expect too much of their wives, who are suffering alone.
Where sisters like Beneatha need support in their dreams, but cannot find it inside the overcrowded, overpriced apartment
Where mothers like Lena just want harmony in their blood and a secure future for their progeny
Where families try to stay cohesive but are forced apart by circumstances that cannot change
Where the dread inside one woman is illegal, frowned upon, murder.
When even if it’s her choice, she is corrupted by something else in the eyes of others
Where husbands lock their wives’ bodies out of their minds
Where Ruth must choose between her living family and the family that might come
Where choice is a crime
Let’s go back to the United States when Eisenhower ruled with his pack of men
Where the growing group of cells inside Ruth would change everything
Script with Chorus- Act 1 Scene 2 pg 56
MAMA Son—do you know your wife is expecting another baby? (WALTER stands, stunned, and absorbs what his mother has said) That’s what she wanted to talk to you about, (WALTER sinks down into a chair) This ain’t for me to be telling—but you ought to know. (She waits) I think Ruth is thinking ’bout getting rid of that child.
WALTER (Slowly understanding) No—no—Ruth wouldn’t do that.
MAMA When the world gets ugly enough—a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s already living.
WALTER You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that. (RUTH opens the bedroom door and stands there a little limp)
CHORUS No, Walter, you don’t know your wife if you think she wouldn’t do everything for her family, even to the point of risking her own life. She is a strong, powerful woman who will support you in everything despite your lack of love.
RUTH (Beaten) Yes I would too, Walter. (Pause) I gave her a five-dollar down payment. (There is total silence as the man stares at his wife and the mother stares at her son)
MAMA (Presently) Well – (Tightly) Well — son, I’m waiting to hear you say something … (She waits) I’m waiting to hear how you be your father’s son. Be the man he was … (Pause. The silence shouts) Your wife say she going to destroy your child.
CHORUS No, she is destroying the family’s chance at debt and poverty. You should be kneeling at her feet for her sacrifice.
MAMA And I’m waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a people who give children life, not who destroys them—(She rises) I’m waiting to see you stand up and look like your daddy and say we done give up one baby to poverty and that we ain’t going to give up nary another one … I’m waiting.
WALTER Ruth— (He can say nothing)
CHORUS Just tell her that you love her, that you support her, that you thank her for all she has ever done for you. She deserves better than you, Walter.
MAMA If you a son of mine, tell her! (WALTER picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bitterly) You … you are a disgrace to your father’s memory. Somebody get me my hat!
WALTER (Slowly understanding) No—no—Ruth wouldn’t do that.
MAMA When the world gets ugly enough—a woman will do anything for her family. The part that’s already living.
WALTER You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that. (RUTH opens the bedroom door and stands there a little limp)
CHORUS No, Walter, you don’t know your wife if you think she wouldn’t do everything for her family, even to the point of risking her own life. She is a strong, powerful woman who will support you in everything despite your lack of love.
RUTH (Beaten) Yes I would too, Walter. (Pause) I gave her a five-dollar down payment. (There is total silence as the man stares at his wife and the mother stares at her son)
MAMA (Presently) Well – (Tightly) Well — son, I’m waiting to hear you say something … (She waits) I’m waiting to hear how you be your father’s son. Be the man he was … (Pause. The silence shouts) Your wife say she going to destroy your child.
CHORUS No, she is destroying the family’s chance at debt and poverty. You should be kneeling at her feet for her sacrifice.
MAMA And I’m waiting to hear you talk like him and say we a people who give children life, not who destroys them—(She rises) I’m waiting to see you stand up and look like your daddy and say we done give up one baby to poverty and that we ain’t going to give up nary another one … I’m waiting.
WALTER Ruth— (He can say nothing)
CHORUS Just tell her that you love her, that you support her, that you thank her for all she has ever done for you. She deserves better than you, Walter.
MAMA If you a son of mine, tell her! (WALTER picks up his keys and his coat and walks out. She continues, bitterly) You … you are a disgrace to your father’s memory. Somebody get me my hat!
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