^Jortlanh (Obstruer
A p ril 2, 2014
Page 17
Lorraine Han sherry’s Wisdom
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 11
tious work. The play is so far ahead of its
time that I wonder if we are ready even
now for the prophetic insight of Ms.
Hansberry, so famously young, gifted,
and black. But I'm grateful that the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival has gone
to the trouble to offer us this opportunity.
Mounting this revival was no mean
feat. There are several versions of the
script in existence, including some edits
and re w rite s
c o m p le te d
a fte r
Hansberry's death by her ex-husband
and collaborator, Robert Nemiroff, Di
rector Juliette Carillo and her creative
team carefully worked with the unwieldy
collected text to capture Hansberry's
intention and to hone the production to a
story that will keep audiences engaged
even as they are challenged. Those ef
forts, including the work of a very fine
and sensitive cast, have resulted in a
production that hums with authenticity.
It is an ambitious effort. Rather than
remaining in the box created by her suc
cess with "A Raisin in the Sun," Hansberry
dared to write a play that reaches beyond
black experience to depict a more expan
sive range of perspectives, in service of a
complex mix of ideas.
Her protagonists are a Jewish intel
lectual and his wife, Iris, living in Green
wich Village in the early 1960s.
Sidney is someone you might recog
nize — a liberal intellectual who has
acquired the tools for higher thought, but
who frequently neglects to self-apply his
insights. His marriage to Iris - an aspir
ing actress who can't summon the cour
age to audition - is full of wit and
affection, but also with the merciless
barbs they lob at each other. Iris, is a
product of her time - intelligent and
perceptive, but imprisoned within a lim
ited set of options that affect her percep
tion of herself.
He vastly underestimates her - and
she is losing patience with his penchant
for pursuing ill-advised projects that ex
ceed his resources and talent. Both seem
immobilized, though the quality of Sidney's
superior tone suggests that he would
apply that description only to Iris. Nei
ther can seem to light on a life purpose to
commit to, and their commitment to their
marriage is hampered by their illusions
about each other.
Their community exposes them to an
array of intellectual perspectives. Their
cynical upstairs neighbor, David, is a gay
playwright who is closeted outside their
circle. Another friend, Walter, is running
an underdog campaign that purports to
provide a clean alternative to dirty local
politics.
Alton, a light-skinned black man who
passes as white, chides Sidney for his lack
of political engagement. Alton is in love
with Iris's younger sister Gloria, who he
believes is a model but who Sidney and Iris
know is a high-class call girl. Gloria is a
heartbreaking mix of vulnerability, hope,
and cynicism. Finally, Iris's older sister,
Mavis, appears to be the most conven
tional of the three sisters, dropping by to
offer provincial comments and judgments
that strike Sidney as naive and, occasion
ally, dangerous.
Part of what makes the play so won
derful is that these characters are not
just types, but believable, flawed human
beings. Their struggles are presented
deftly and with empathy — yet no one
gets off easy. Each character has mo
ments that illuminate genuine suffering -
- shockingly clear and nuanced mo
ments for 1964, and refreshingly so even
for 2014. Yet each character also dis Sidney is rigid and often unlikable, and he
plays small-minded impulses; each grasps undergoes a transformation late in the
for primacy in whatever form, be it the play that is not entirely satisfying. The
moral high ground or simply the power to conflicts in his marriage to Iris, too, are
get one's own needs met at someone too thorny to find convincing resolution,
else's expense.
although the final act offers something
This community of intellectuals - rela like one.
tively accepting for 1964 - can con
But the messiness in this play feels,
verse about problems that occupy us for the most part, fitting. Hansberry,
still, with a level of insight that at times remarkably for her time and for any
seems enviable even to current ears. time, displays the courage of her convic
Yet action consistent with their ideals tions.
often eludes them.
In the world of her play, intelligent,
That anyone — let alone a black woman well-meaning people sometimes make
in 1964 — dared to assemble this cast of decisions that add to the oppression of
flawed characters and to struggle in others. It can happen because they are
such a nuanced way with the problems distracted by their own oppression, or
that occupy their existence is remark because they are closing their eyes to a
able. But Hansberry attempted more. piece of what's true, or because they are
Her play grapples with what it means to afraid to act at all.
be human, to take a stand and attempt to
Although the resolutions Hansberry
contribute to positive change, even when chooses are not always satisfying, she
one's efforts seem unsatisfying or futile. commits to them. As a playwright, she
Each o f the characters struggles models a life of compassion toward dif
uniquely with the problem of engage ference, an open-eyed commitment to
ment - o f whether and how to aim for the struggle for truth. She eschews apa
something, and of what balance to strike thy in favor of a struggle to live into one's
b etw een an a ly sis and co u rag e o u s ideals even if the options one can see for
agency. The mix of results is surprising. doing so feel unsatisfying.
For example, Mavis, whose assess
This Oregon Shakespeare Festival pro
ments of others are chock full of con duction, which plays until July 3, offers a
ventional stereotypes, nevertheless dis rich glimpse into the prophetic wisdom
plays a remarkable capacity for nuance. of a true visionary. It's worth a trip to
Compared to Sidney, Wally seems a Ashland this spring to enter Hansberry's
man of action — but his articulation of world. (Visit osfashland.org for tickets
how he subordinates his principles in the and moreinform ation.)
name of expediency seems chillingly
Darle en Ortega is a member of
familiar. Meanwhile, Sidney and Iris are, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
by contrast, relatively stuck - and one Board of Directors. A judge on the
can question whether their principles are Oregon Court o f Appeals, she is the
too robust or too inflexible.
first woman of color to serve in that
Hansberry has no easy solution for capacity. Her movie review column
these dilemmas - and that is both a Opinionated Judge appears regu
strength of the play and a problem for it. larly in The Portland Observer.
THE
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