OxACT has teamed with the African American Theatre Company of Butler County to offer a unique and compelling production of Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning A Raisin in the Sun.

Directed by Dan Britt, who, with his wife Ruth, initiated the AATC/BC in 2002, the production will feature members of the AATC/BC, Oxford residents, and Miami University students.

The Company made history last November when they performed Raisin in Middletown, making it the first African American themed play ever presented by a community theater group in Butler county.

A Raisin in the Sun, the first work by a black playwright performed on Broadway, won the 1959 New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award. The drama centers on the dreams of a black family in Chicago’s South Side trying to move into a white neighborhood.

The play is based on an incident from Hansberry’s childhood: Hansberry’s father filed a lawsuit that was decided in his favor and ultimately led to the repeal of restrictive covenant laws nationwide that prevented blacks from moving into white areas.

Cast members include AATC/BC members Carlos Baxley, Cynthia Pinchback-Hines, Gary Hines, Terence Moore and Melanie Rogers; Miami students Kerri Duncan and Stuart Frazier; OxACT veteran Daryl Olthaus; Jeff Woodard; and Talawanda Middle School 7th grader Joshua Wright.

Leonard Theatre, Peabody Hall

Tickets:

$10; $8 seniors/students

Tickets may be reserved by calling the OxACT box office at 513-523-OACT (6228), or may be purchased at the Miami University Art Museum beginning Feb. 18. The museum is open 10 a.m. -5 p.m. Monday - Friday, and noon-5 p.m. Saturdays, and has plenty of parking.

*Click here for directions to the Art Museum and Peabody Hall.

by Frank Gilroy

at the Oxford Community Arts Center. located at the corner of High St. and College Ave. in Oxford.

One young man, 20s

One mature man, 50s

One mature woman, 50s

Those who audition will be asked to read from the script.

For additional information contact the director at 513-524-2227 or at bbrewer@designedlearning.com.

The production is scheduled for May 14-16. Winner of the 1965 Pulitzer, Tony and Drama Critics Awards, The Subject Was Roses tells the story of a solider returning to his parents after WW II.