By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer
As a local Black-centered breast cancer organization with international connections, Carrie’s TOUCH has often brought awareness to center stage. Founder and survivor Rev. Tammie Denyse continues to take that mission to a whole new level, hosting an upcoming event, “Dinner with the Youngers” from 7-9 p.m Friday, Feb. 7, at the Guild Theater, 2828 35th St.
The interactive event features live readings of scenes from Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” It’s a part of Carrie’s TOUCH’s efforts to “shatter complacency,” ignite new conversation in the fight against breast cancer and draw attention to deadly disparities facing Black women with breast cancers. Rev. Denyse points to a 41% mortality gap between Black and white women.
“This disparity has had a devastating impact on the mental and emotional well-being of Black women, their families and their communities,” Rev. Denyse said. “We are breaking the fourth wall by providing this opportunity to offer hope through a healing lens. Through our immersive experience, we are raising awareness, providing education, and conducting research on the impact of the play’s themes and the effect these systemic ills can have.”
The live reading of scenes from Hansberry’s classic brings her characters to life like never before. Joining Rev. Denyse in the cast are: Jason Thompson as Walter Lee; Courtney Cochran as Beneatha Younger; Alana Mathews as Ruth Younger; Masai Mack as Travis Younger; and Howie Bryant as Bobo. The evening includes interactive conversations on love, family, faith, friendship, and self-care.
General admission tickets are $35. Cost for general admission and dinner is $55. Tickets are available on eventbrite or at Carriestouch.org. Promotion of the all-ages event promises “real talk and bold healing.” The OBSERVER sat down with Rev. Denyse, who stars as Lena Younger, the play’s beloved and hardworking matriarch, a role she has sunk her teeth into before, notably with local Black theater Celebration Arts.
Q: “A Raisin in the Sun” brought you back to the stage, why has the play endured all these years and what about it resonates with you?
A: I believe this play has endured all these years because we are still dealing with themes that are brought present in the original production. Lorraine Hansberry and her family were navigating housing injustice. This story is loosely based on her real lived experience. Across the nation we are in a housing crisis. If you look around, even right here in Sacramento, you see the number of unhoused persons. Folks who are not necessarily unhoused are also struggling with the cost of housing. Though this play debuted on Broadway 65 years ago, there are many themes that are still present today.
Thirty years ago, my late sister Lynne Rankin-Cochran and I had our first encounter with “A Raisin in the Sun,” as dressers for the show. We enjoyed the storyline, we enjoyed the performers, the performance, and culturally the show and its themes resonated with us. It became personal to me when I returned to theater after a 10-year hiatus. In a weird turn of events, Lena Younger’s story forecasted my life, and little did I know, we would reunite, reconcile and heal together onstage. There were things about Lena Younger that I had no connection to 30 years ago. Upon my return in December 2023, I learned that Lena Younger also lost a child. I learned that Lena Younger was grieving and trying to put the pieces of her family back together, while still grieving herself/myself, something that I know firsthand is extremely difficult to do. For me in this season, this show is about healing, it’s about hope, it’s about restoration. It’s God’s promise to never leave nor forsake us. When you Google “A Raisin in the Sun,” the results reveal resilience and hope, and, I would add, restoration. After losing my youngest child, doing this show helped me face my grief in a way that had not been present or available prior to getting on stage and getting up close and personal with Lena’s story. In a sense, we healed together.
Q: How do you put a “twist” on a classic?
A: How does a classic become a classic? This play became a classic because, as a first of its kind, it showed a glimpse into the realities of Black life that resembled hope. The show masterfully brings forth each generation’s struggles and triumphs. We are still wrestling with some of the social injustices that were prevalent 65 years ago. What we do know, I believe, is that while we live in a society that does not honor or value Black life, we’re not where we used to be – or are we? In looking at this story of tragedy, trauma and resilience, I am encouraging us to bring a 2024 sensibility to it. Black people are talking about mental wellness and mental illness in ways never imagined. Sixty-five years ago there’s no way you would have ever even known what mental illness was in the Black community, or in the community at large. Now Black people are gladly saying, “I need to take a break for my mental health,” or “I’m going to go talk to my therapist.” Men, Black men, are wanting to be a part of group therapy. Instead of living and sitting in the weight and heaviness of the trauma, we are using current sensibilities to approach trauma, call out trauma, and provide tools and techniques to help navigate trauma. [In telling this story] through our healing lens, we reimagine Walter Lee healed, versus being very angry, very oppressed and living impoverished. It’s not easy to be “a grown man,” and he says it multiple times throughout the play – that he’s “a grown man” trying to ground himself. It’s still Lorraine’s classic story – the words she penned 65 years ago. Yet, we reimagine him as “a grown man” with feelings in need of nurturing, love, support, and resources as much as anyone else in this story. Don’t get me wrong, and it’s important to note that as “a grown man,” Walter Lee definitely has to be accountable for his abusive words and actions. Still, in addition, we strive to see his humanity, and therefore, we are reimagining the intention behind telling this story.
Q: Mental health is still a taboo subject, especially in the Black community. How can a play chip away at that?
A: Black resilience is mostly thought of as a positive, but there’s so much behind that strength and why we have to develop it in the first place that isn’t good. How important is it for healing that we get to the root of that?
When we talk about Black people’s resilience and strength, it is often viewed as a badge of honor. However, I talked about this in my TED Talk called “Toxic Strength.” I discussed the “strong Black women” syndrome and how, many times, Black women are forced to be “all things to all people all the time perfectly – while suffering alone in silence.” There are numerous reasons for us to be proud to be Black women: we stand on the shoulders of greatness from our ancestors to our mamas, and grandmamas and big mamas who are still with us today charting the course for us. And, at the same time, we grew up in a society and a community where we could not show pain. We could not show being less than perfect, or being less than superior. We learned to mask and suppress our emotions at young ages. We were always taught to have on clean underwear when you go out and you better look the part. You have to look good in order to feel good, to be good, and never let ’em see you sweat. That took on a whole new meaning for us as Black people, and especially as Black women, from the context of my TED Talk, “Toxic Strength.” One of the worst things that strength can do for us is that we pride ourselves in being 75 years old and looking 40. There’s a saying, “Black don’t crack.” Recently, I started saying, “On the outside. Black don’t crack on the outside.” Most of us look good on the outside, but we are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually broken on the inside and we don’t even know how to navigate that trauma. While it is important for us to embrace our strength and our resilience, it’s also important to recognize the side of that strength and resilience that’s toxic because we don’t do it from a place of pride, we do it from a place of survival.
Q: What is your hope for this production?
A: As a cancer organization we can only imagine the agony Ms. Hansberry encountered as she navigated and succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the young age of 34. At Carrie’s TOUCH, we care about the whole woman – mind, body and soul. Our goal in this endeavor, through the medium of edutainment [education and entertainment], is to raise awareness, provide education, provide tools and resources, and to raise necessary funds needed to support the women we get to serve.
Through the immersive presentation of a familiar and entertaining production, paired with an intentional educational component, we aim to engage and empower viewers with a connection to the characters living a commonly shared experience. Illuminating and promoting healing in Black families, we are excited to celebrate and acknowledge a healthy view of resilience in Black family dynamics.