The 1989 television adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun was based on the 25th Anniversary Production directed by Harold Scott and produced by the Roundabout Theater Company. It was the eighth-season opener for PBS American Playhouse. The television adaptation starred Danny Glover (Walter Lee), Starletta DuPois (Ruth), Esther Rolle (Mama), and Kim Yancey (Beneatha) and featured Starletta DuPois and John Fiedler, who had both performed in the original Broadway production and in the 1961 film version. Bill Duke directed the television adaptation with Chiz Schultz as producer; the production received three Emmy Award nominations.
“A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Bill Duke. PBS/American Playhouse, 1988. PBS/American Playhouse February 1, 1989. 171 minutes.
Additional Resources
"A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Daniel Petrie. Film. Columbia Pictures, 1961. 127 min. (Digital release: Columbia Classics, 2002).
“A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Kenny Leon. Sony/ABC Television. 2008. February 25, 2008. 131 min.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, edited by Robert Nemiroff. With a new Foreword by Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff, a Note by Robert Nemiroff, and critical Essays by Amiri Baraka and Frank Rich. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay, edited by Robert Nemiroff. With a Foreword by Jewell Handy Gresham-Nemiroff, an Introduction by Margaret Wilkerson and with a Commentary by Spike Lee. New York: Signet, 1995.
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun. 1969 full cast recording with Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Steve Mitchell, Diana Sands, Claudia McNeil, Zakes Mokae, Harold Scott, Sam Schacht, and Leonard Jackson. Caedmon Records: (TRS342, 1971)
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Thirtieth Anniversary Edition (Revised). Acting Edition. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1989.
Hansberry, Lorraine. The Lorraine Hansberry Audio Collection. Includes full cast productions of the 1969 recording of A Raisin in the Sun and 1972 recording of To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. The final selection is Lorraine Hansberry Speaks Out, a collection of seven interviews and speeches recorded between 1959 and 1964. 6 hours. Harper Audio/Caedmon: Abridged edition (April 2009).
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry’s Original Play: A Raisin in the Sun, A Drama in Three Acts. Acting edition. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1958.