A Raisin In The Sun Argumentative Analysis

Although other performance texts from the course syllabus may be adequate selections, A Raisin in the Sun is the best choice to complete the Witrz 2015-2016 season. A Raisin in the Sun is the best as it provides casting opportunities for minorities, is relevant to northwestern, and addresses issues differing from those recently explored. There is currently a lack of casting of minorities in the Wirtz shows at Northwestern; doing A Raisin in the Sun would increase the number of roles that are historically cast as people of color, therefore increasing the number of people of color that get cast overall. If one were to simply focus on the early fall section of the Wirtz 2015-2106 season, which consists of American Idiot, As You Like
It and La Revolution Française they would find that eight of the 56 people cast were people of color, and only one of those eight was black. The break down is two people of color in As You Like It out of a cast of 15, five people of color in American Idiot out of a cast of 19, and one person of color in La Revolution Française out of a cast of 22. Northwestern University’s undergraduate population is 54.9% white and 45.1% other and yet only 14.3% of the students cast in the Wirtz early fall productions were non-white. By adding A Raisin in the Sun to fall portion of the season, therefore adding 10 roles for people of color out of 11 total. There would be 18 people of color cast out of 67 brining the percentage to 26.9, which is still far away from the actual representation of 45.1%, but it is a significant increase from the 14.3% and it would increase the opportunities for casting for the people of color in theatre on Northwestern’s campus. A Raisin in the Sun deals with several topics that are relevant to not only to “today” but also to Northwestern Specifically.
Race representation is a major topic of discussion at Northwestern, not just within the theatre department but on campus as well. Although Color Struck, Big White Fog, and A Raisin in the Sun deal with some similar topics, A Raisin in the Sun’s topics are the most relevant to Northwestern. Color Struck’s main topic is color discrimination and colorism, Big White Fog deals with communism and internal black tensions, all of which are not topical “today” at Northwestern. A Raisin in the Sun discusses prejudice, which is seen in the Northwestern theatre department on many different levels: in casting, in show selection, and in the writing of new shows. A Raisin in the Sun explores the troubles of a black family moving into a predominately white neighborhood similar to black students trying to adapt to a predominately white theatre department at Northwestern. Although, at Northwestern there is no one actively trying to stop people of color from joining the program, there is constant discrimination shown through the lack of opportunities provided for minorities, the minute amount of people of color cast in shows, and through the inherent racism allowed in the writing of Waa-Mu Gold. A Raisin in the Sun addresses issues and topic that are different from those recently
explored.
A Raisin in the Sun should be added to the Wirtz 2015-2016 season not only because it is a good fit, but because it is also the better and more resonant than any other performance text from the syllabus. In the next room (or The Vibrator Play) was a part of last season and it touches on a lot of the topics in Ibsen’s works and in Votes for Women making those pieces not as desirable/ needed to be done. When creating a season you want to have fresh topics and ideas that are not simply a repeat of last season. In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) discusses women feeling stuck in their societal role; this is one of the main topics in both A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler. Another major topic is women taking control, in In the next Room it is of their Sexualitiy, in Votes for Women it is of their freedom.
The topics women being stuck
Women branching outside of their typical roles