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aellynera · 1 year

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The Return of Operation Oscar (the full story)

Okay, so here’s the full story. Because I realize that this was technically my fourth trip to NYC since Operation Oscar, but the one in October didn’t technically count since that was me going to support @lisazamanart at her gallery show. Anyway.

Ironically, it was at that gallery show that I first learned about the play, since that had just been announced. And when I got home, I got me a membership to BAM, and I was going to be a responsible adult and get cheaper tickets, but then I thought about it, and since one of the shows was ON MY BIRTHDAY, I... was not responsible at all and got 2nd row tickets, dead center. Because it was my birthday and YOLO.

The person who was supposed to go with me couldn’t, so I ended up talking my mom into taking the bus into the city (it’s only like a 1.5 hour ride, and even though way more expensive than it used to be, still easy.) So I was not only excited to see Oscar, but also my mom on my actual birthday.

Thennnnnn on the Saturday before my birthday (which is also the day the play opened, and my uncle’s birthday) I had a seizure? I think? Still not entirely sure what happened, but I ended up in the hospital for a couple days but the whole time I felt fine and I was like we are NOT cancelling the NYC trip because I will literally cry and I’ve been looking forward to it for so long... so, long story short, after a little back and forth, I got out of the hospital on 6 Feb and flew to NYC on 9 Feb. YOLO!

So anyway, Lisa and I had been talking before my flight, basic stuff like how I was going to the city and she was leaving to go back to London, and how it sucked that we would miss each other because we’d really like to say hello and stuff. I got to NYC, grabbed a cab from LaGuardia to Brooklyn, and got to my hotel. I was supposed to text my mom when I got there, since she was already in the room, and I was walking into the lobby doing just that when a tiny British woman tackled me and I was like, “LISA?!” and as it turns out, this is the hotel she always stays at in Brooklyn and my mom and I had just picked it by chance because it was super close to the theater and VOILA, Lisa and I got to see each other anyway! My mom couldn’t figure out what was taking me so long and who I could possibly find to talk to in our hotel lobby so I got to introduce them and it was the most lovely totally unexpected surprise. And I got all the theater and stage door dirt from her, too. 😂😂

So the next day after breakfast, we went exploring a bit and we did find the theater, then went to the amazing pizzeria on the corner and back to the hotel to relax until it was play time. And let me tell you, for the size of the theater and the three-hour (with intermission) run time and our second row seats, I would have been happy. Oscar Isaac was like twenty feet away from me most of the night of my birthday and what else could I have asked for? But then after the show we decided to check out the stage door and we found it quite easily. There were only like maybe? 20? people waiting at the stage door, all very polite and well-mannered and very cognizant of the barricade they’d put up. All the cast came out, we cheered and we clapped. Rachel Brosnahan was 2nd last to come out, and she was very sweet (and also fucking amazing in the play itself; I was surprised and thrilled with her performance, what a treat!) She signed my program and it was all very lovely.

Then. Then. Last to come out was Oscar, and he quite happily made his way around the barricade while I tried to remember how to breathe. But he ended up being SO NICE and so sweet and when my mom mentioned that it was my birthday, the next thing I know I’m getting squished in a hug and I’m getting a resounding “happy birthday!” and my mom is telling him that I came all the way from Tennessee for this and he’s like “hey, my dad lives in Tennessee!” and there were smiles and probably me looking like a total idiot and he had his arm around me for the picture even though you can’t really see it but IT WAS THERE OKAY.

The program:

My favorite picture in the history of ever:

It took a long road to get here. There was the lobby incident, and us not knowing or thinking to get to the stage door at the 92nd St Y (although we did loiter at his car), and then FINALLY I got to meet him (ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!) and every time I look at this picture I grin like a complete idiot and I’m not sorry about it and if I can figure out how to get to the play again, I will because it was amazing.

AH. MAY. ZING.

#oscar isaac #the sign in sidney brustein's window #brooklyn academy of music #BAM strong #lorainne hansberry #NYC #best birthday everrrr #the return of operation oscar

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udspeccoll-blog · 7 years

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“A Raisin in the Sun”

March 10th, 2017 marked the 58th anniversary of the Broadway debuted of Lorraine Hansberry’s awarding winning play, A Raisin in the Sun. The play previewed at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City on March 10th, 1959 and officially opened on March 11th, 1959. The play tells the story of an African American family’s experience in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood and their attempts to improve their standard of living by purchasing a home in a white neighborhood with insurance money from the death of their father. A Raisin in the Sun would go on to complete 530 performances before it concluded its final performance on June 25th, 1960 at the Belasco Theatre in New York. The cast starred a young Sidney Poitier as the character Walter Lee Younger, actress Ruth Dee as Ruth Younger, and Claudia McNeil as Lena Younger. At the age of 29, Hansberry was the first African American woman to write a play performed on Broadway and was the youngest playwright and the first African American dramatist to win the New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award, the second oldest theater award after the Pulitzer Prize. The title of Hansberry’s play was taken from Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem,” in which he writes: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 19th, 1930 and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was politically active. She left school after her second year and moved to New York City, where she became more politically involved. Accepting a position at the Pan-Africanist newspaper, Freedom, Hansberry worked with Paul Robeson and W.E. B. Du Bois. The University of Delaware’s Special Collections holds the Richard Hoffman Lorainne Hansberry Collection, which spans from 1959-1986 and comprises of 17 items, including photographs, playbills, programs, and screenplay for A Raisin in the Sun.

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