Reading Plays Aloud: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury and Its Spin-off, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
Class | Registration opens 12/1/2025 9:00 AM
NOTE: Please do not sign up for the course if you know you will be absent more than one class.
We’ll read two courageous plays that tackle racial stereotypes, redlining, gentrification and the struggle to create community and a place to call home. The plays were written more than fifty years apart. What has changed? Both plays have powerfully developed characters and conflict.
Format: We’ll read the plays aloud in class and discuss how each playwright deals with similar social and political issues. All participants will be expected to do a small amount of research about Chicago and red-lining practices, which will inform our discussions of the plays.
Resources/Expenses: Both plays are available on all online used book sites for $5 or less.
Wendy Salkind
Wendy Salkind is a Professor Emerita of Theatre at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. As an actor, she performed in the plays of Beckett, Pinter, Shakespeare and Chekov, among others, and collaborated with a composer on solo performances based on writings of Gertrude Stein. This will be her sixth time coordinating a Reading Plays Aloud course.