The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is named after the acclaimed playwright of A Raisin in the Sun. She wrote the play while living in Bay Area.[1] Since being founded in 1981, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has mounted productions that have included performances by Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Danny Glover and Ntozake Shange. The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is the first African-American arts institution to be located in downtown San Francisco.[2]

For 30 years, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has celebrated the African-American experience - an American experience - on stage in the San Francisco Bay Area. Described as the most tenacious arts organization in San Francisco, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has survived numerous obstacles including a declining African-American population — the San Francisco population has decreased to 6% — and multiple changes in location. The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has mounted more than 100 plays, productions and theatrical events since its genesis.

Notable productions include the 1987 production of Ntozake Shange's play Three Views of Mt. Fuji, which completed a six-week run at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre preceding an opening in New York at New Dramatists.[3] In 1991 African-American playwright Robert Alexander challenges the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe with a production at The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre examining stereotypes in the cabin of Uncle Tom.[4]

Change of Venue

June 23, 2007 - "This June the arts community went into crisis mode with the news that the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre was being kicked out of the former YWCA at 620 Sutter Street that it has occupied since 1988. What's more, San Francisco's oldest and most established African-American theatre company was being displaced by another arts organization, the Academy of Art University, which has used the building as a dormitory since 2005 and is currently in the process of buying it. The Lorraine Hansberry's lease was to expire at the end of July, and the academy expected the company to vacate the space by then".

"The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre immediately mobilized supporters for an all-out campaign to save the theatre. Links on the company's website provided quick e-mail links to Mayor [Gavin Newsom] and each member of the city's Board of Supervisors, as well as mailing addresses for Academy of Art president Elisa Stephens and various legislators. The theatre counts up to 1,300 e-mails sent from its site as well as unknown numbers of cards and letters. The heads of the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Symphony, SFMOMA and other major institutions sent a joint letter urging the mayor to take action."[5]

"On June 26 San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed a resolution "supporting the Lorraine Hansberry and its contributions to the cultural life of San Francisco and its Theater District" with a unanimous vote of all 10 members present".[6]

"The embattled Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has finally found a new home after having spent the past year and a half wandering from one venue to another. The region's leading African-American theater company is moving into the theater at 450 Post Street, formerly known as Theatre on the Square and then as the Post Street Theatre. Some details of the lease are still being worked out, but Executive Director Quentin Easter says the company will stage the rest of its current season there and "we expect to be there for the foreseeable future."[7]

"In a major setback for a company that seemed to be overcoming its difficulties, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre has canceled the rest of its season and withdrawn from its recently announced lease of the former Post Street Theatre. The moves were necessitated by the hospitalization of its founders, Artistic Director Stanley E. Williams and Executive Director Quentin Easter, according to an announcement posted on the company's website.

Homeless since 2007, when it lost the 300-seat Sutter Street theater it had occupied since 1988, the region's premier African-American company seemed poised to move up the prestige ladder when it announced its move into the 729-seat Post Street space in January. It opened there in February with the gospel musical Mahalia.[8]

Loss of co-founder

"(Quentin) Easter co-founded Lorraine Hansberry Theatre with Stanley E. Williams in 1981, and served as its Executive Director since that time. He supervised the renovation and relocation of the theater to its former home at 620 Sutter Street — a one-half-million-dollar project which established Lorraine Hansberry Theatre as the first African-American Arts institution to be located in the high-profile theatre district of downtown San Francisco. Mr. Easter served as a panelist for the California Arts Council's Theatre Program, Multicultural Entry Level Program, and Multicultural Advancement Program. He was saluted by KGO-TV 7 in 1990 with its 'Profiles in Excellence' Award; by KQED-TV in 2007 with its 'Local Heroes Award' for community involvement, leadership, and accomplishments. Other awards include the National Council of Negro Women Special Service Award 2006; San Francisco Black Pride Reggie Williams Achievement Award 2006; and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence 2008. Under his direction, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre was honored with the Bay Area Critics' Circle's Paine Knickerbocker Award, for continued contributions to Bay Area theatre."[9]

The remainder of the season looked particularly promising, with Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond (The Bluest Eye) and leading local actor Margo Hall in Fabulation by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Intimate Apparel). The first signs of trouble came with the postponement of Stick Fly from March until a later date.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Young Scholars Visit Lorraine Hansberry Theatre". Oakland Post. 2002. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  2. ↑ Henderson, Shirley (2006). "Black theaters: continue to play out the African-American Experience. (STAGING OUR STORIES)". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Co. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  3. ↑ "FAME CAME FAST WITH `FOR COLORED GIRLS' A LESS-PUBLIC OBIE WINNER WRITES ON"; [Home Edition] Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). Los Angeles, Calif.: July 28, 1987, p. 5.
  4. ↑ Nancy Churnin, "A Renovated `Cabin' Theater: Those who worked to bring the revisionist version of the Harriet Beecher Stowe classic to the stage call the experience exhausting, painful-and worth it"; [San Diego County Edition], Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext). Los Angeles, Calif.: October 16, 1991, p. 1.
  5. ↑ "Newsom To Save Black Theater". Arts SF Weekly. July 23, 2007.
  6. ↑ "Theatre Bay Area". theatrebayarea.org. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007.
  7. ↑ Hurwitt, Robert; Marinucci, Carla; Baker, Kenneth (January 30, 2010). "Hansberry finds a home". SFGate. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  8. ↑ Robert Hurwitt, "Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to close for season", SF Gate, April 09, 2010.
  9. ↑ "In Memoriam". Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. April 29, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  10. ↑ Hurwitt, Robert (April 9, 2010). "Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to close for season". SFGate. Retrieved May 28, 2010.

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