Great Playwrights, Dramas, History & Pop Culture:

1. Great Playwrights,Dramas,History & Pop Culture: Arthur Miller & Lorraine Hansberry

2. Arthur Miller http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/02/11/obit.miller/

3. Arthur Millerfinest realist of the 20th-century stage Arthur Miller, 1915–2005, American dramatist, b. New York City, grad. Univ. of Michigan, 1938. One of America's most distinguished playwrights, he has been hailed as the finest realist of the 20th-century stage. Miller's plays are, above all, concerned with morality as they reflect the individual's response to the manifold pressures exerted by the forces of family and society.

4. Pulitzer Prize1949 • Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman (1949; Pulitzer Prize), is the story of a salesman betrayed by his own hollow values and those of American society. • The Crucible (1953) is both a dynamic dramatization of the 17th-century Salem witch trials and a parable about the United States in the McCarthy era (see McCarthy, Joseph Raymond); it has been his most frequently produced work. In A View from the Bridge (1955; Pulitzer Prize) Miller studies a Sicilian-American longshoreman whose unacknowledged lust for his niece destroys him and his family. • Miller's tumultuous life with his second wife, Marilyn Monroe, to whom he was married from 1956 to 1961, is fictionalized in his After the Fall (1964), and a barely disguised version of the glamorous but troubled actress also appears in his last play, Finishing the Picture (2004).

5. Recurring themes of his major works involve the overwhelming importance of personal and social responsibility and the moral corruption that results from betraying the dictates of conscience. • Miller's other plays include The Man Who Had All the Luck (1940), All My Sons (1947), Incident at Vichy (1965), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), The American Clock (1980), The Ride down Mount Morgan (1991), Broken Glass (1994), and Resurrection Blues (2002). He also wrote the screenplay for The Misfits (1961); the television dramas Playing for Time (1980) and Clara (1991); a novel, Focus (1945); and a book of short stories (1967) Miller's The Theater Essays (1971, rev. ed. 1996) is a collection of writings about the craft of playwriting and the nature of modern tragedy, and Echoes down the Corridor (2000) is a collection of essays (1944–2000), many of them autobiographical. He collaborated with his third wife, the photographer Inge Morath (1923–2002), on several books; their In Russia (1969) is a study of the Soviet Union.

6. In 1953, Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" ran on Broadway at the Martin Beck. Despite being a box office success and acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, it was considered second-best to his prior "Death of a Salesman."  As Brook Atkinson for the New York Times reported the day after the opening, "[T]he theme does not develop with the simple eloquence of 'Death of a Salesman.'"  Although the events of the play are based on the events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, Miller was liberal in his fictionalization of those events.

7. The CrucibleThe Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952. The play takes place in 1692. • In the first scene of the play, the hero, John Proctor is a hardworking, middle-aged farmer who has commited adultery, which is a very serious crime in the puritan society. • His affair is with a pretty, 17 year old girl named Abigail Williams. She uses witchcraft to put a curse on John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, so that Elizabeth would die. • But the Reverend Parris catches Abigail and her friends performing one of these rituals and because of this, Betty Parris becomes very sick.

8. The Cruciblecontinued • He even risks ruining his reputation by telling the Judge his sin with Abigail Williams but the Judge still won't listen. When Mary Warren accuses John Proctor of witchcraft, he is arrested also. • In the last scene of the play, ministers and magistrates tell John Proctore to confess and since his reputation is already ruined he tells a lie and confesses to witchcraft to save his own life. But they want more than that, they want him to name other witches and wizards in the village. • He refuses and is later executed.

9. Finally, the girls confess.The Reverend Parris sends for the Reverend John Hail who has experience with exorcism and witchcraft cases. • When Rev. John hail questions Abigail, Abigail blames Tituba who is one of Reverend Parris's slaves from the Caribbean. Then, the Rev. John Hail goes to Tituba and questions her and tells her to name other witches. • She names two--Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Abigfail and Betty catch on to the name game and end up accusing and killing more than 24 people. • In the next scene of the play, John Proctor's wife is accused by Abigail Williams. John Proctor presents evidence to the court saying that thegirls are frauds, but the court will not believe him.

10. The Crucible (The Movie) • Over twenty years after the opening of the play, the eighty-one-year-old Miller wrote the screenplay for  the production of a movie version of "The Crucible."  As was the play, the movie is a fictionalized version of the events of Salem in 1692. • Additionally, the movie has been changed from the play in some minor respects.  • For example, the movie opens with a scene of the town girls sneaking into the woods and participating is a ritualistic dance with the slave woman Tituba--until they are all caught by the minister.  • In the play this scene was referred to, but not performed.  Another change is that the Slave woman Tituba is portrayed as black, when she was actually an Indian.

11. The Movie continued • Although hailed by some, the movie was not as well received as was the play.  One critic stated, "This filmic redux of Miller's theatrical parable is somewhat out of place on the modern landscape.  • What was no doubt a powerful and emotive effort in the 1950s, when it was written as a scathing critique of Senator McCarthy's crusade against supposed communist sympathizers, falls flat in the '90s."  • Even the star-studded cast was not enough to save the film for some.  "Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis star in this two-hour yelling match between good and evil.  Not recommended for those with a low tolerance for '50s-style misogyny and moralistic posturing."  Not all were so harsh. Another reviewer stated, "With a head on its shoulders and the rawest emotions in its craw, Miller's stage hit "The Crucible" has become a cinematic grabber for grown-ups (**** out of four)." For a complete list of the cast and clips from the movie, see http://movieweb.com/movie/thecrucible/index.html

13. Arthur Miller &ClassicHollywood

14. ArthurMiller&Marilyn Monroe

15. http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/community/strange_south/marilyn_monroe/parkside.shtmlParkside House, Englefield Green • In the Summer of 1956, one tiny English village became home to one of most famous faces in the entire world. • Surrey's unsuspecting, sleepy little Englefield Green had the world's spotlight turned upon it.

16. And the famous resident? Marilyn Monroe. • Newly wed to third husband and playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn flew to England in July 1956. • She was in the country to film The Prince And The Showgirl, a Marilyn Monroe Productions film co-starring the great English actor Sir Laurence Olivier. • With Marilyn hailed as the world's most adored sex symbol and Olivier, who at the time was thought to be one of the world's greatest actors, the film was set to be a runaway success.

18. The Prince And The Showgirlcontinued • It was due to be filmed at Pinewood Studios and was Marilyn's first venture away from Twentieth Century Fox. • According to author Colin Clark in his book "My Week With Marilyn," he was employed to work as a "gofer" on the film.His parents were close friends of the Oliviers; the great actor and his wife, actress Vivien Leigh, and Colin was • given the role as runner and personal assistant to Sir Laurence. • It was he, who apparently, arranged for Marilyn and Arthur to stay in Englefield Green. • He is quoted as saying, " I had taken a lease on the most beautiful house I could find - Parkside House."

19. My Week With Marilyn by Colin Clark (Published by Harper Collins)http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bibliofemme.com/images/marilyn.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.bibliofemme.com/others/marilyn.shtml&h=158&w=100&sz=13&tbnid=HJHRJSY6vTJVvM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=58&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DColin%2BClark%2BMy%2BWeek%2BWith%2BMarilyn%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG • Back in the summer of 1956, Colin Clark's first job was as third assistant director (as he puts it, "the lowest of the low") on a film called 'The Prince and the Showgirl'. Starring Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, the film was one of Monroe's attempts to escape being typecast as a dumb blond, but her acting style caused clashes almost immediately with Olivier, who was also directing. • Clark (brother of historian, politician and diarist Alan Clark) kept a diary of events behind the scenes which was published forty years later as 'The Prince, the Showgirl and Me'. Now, he follows it up with this account of an episode that did not make an appearance in that book. • Monroe, feeling abandoned by her new husband, Arthur Miller, threatened by Olivier's attitude and stifled by sycophants that surrounded her, turned to Clark for amusement. A very proper English gentleman, he takes her to Windsor Castle to meet his godfather, they drop in to his old school - Eton College, and go for a "scrumptious" afternoon tea. • Clark writes well of Monroe's ability to look like and act a little girl one minute, and turn on the star quality the next as she becomes 'her'. Although an interesting account of an ever-fascinating star, sometimes Clark's Boys-Own style grates, but • bring Monroe to life in a way that is sometimes missed by official biographers.

20. Leigh & Olivier

22. Marilyn Monroe& Arthur Miller • Marilyn married playwright Arthur Miller, whom she met in 1951, in a civil ceremony on June 29, 1956, then in a Jewish ceremony two days later. When they returned from England after she wrapped The Prince and the Showgirl , they learned she was pregnant. • Sadly, she suffered from endometriosis; the pregnancy was ectopic and had to be aborted to save her life. A second pregnancy ended in miscarriage. • By 1958, Monroe was supporting them. Not only did she pay alimony to Miller's first wife, he reportedly bought a Jaguar while they were in England, shipped it to the States, and charged it to her production company. His script The Misfits was meant to be a Valentine to her. • Instead, by the time filming started, the marriage was broken beyond repair. Marilyn's behavior—fueled by drugs and alcohol—was erratic. A Mexican divorce was granted on January 24, 1961.

28. Monroe and Arthur Miller on the set of The Misfits

29. The Misfits

33. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry is best known for her famous play A Raisin in the Sun, which was a Broadway hit in 1959.Though she died early at the age of 34, she left a legacy that has made her known as one of the predecessors of African American drama.

34. Hansberry says that her parents taught the family ‘certain absolutes’: “That we were better than no one but infinitely superior to everyone; that we were the products of the proudest and most mistreated races of man; that there was nothing enormously difficult about life; that one succeeded as a matter of course. • In 1937, the Hansberry family moved into an all-white suburb in Chicago. Their neighbors were less than happy and greeted them by throwing bricks through their windows. • The family is evicted by the Illinois Supreme Court, but the family appealed it in federal courts. The US Supreme Court agreed that they could keep home. The conflict that Hansberry faced with segregation and living in a white neighborhood would be her inspiration for her most famous play, A Raisin in the Sun.

35. Hansberry’s parents sent Lorraine to public school in order to protest segregation. She was president of the high school debating society and excelled in English and History. • With these beginnings, she started on her path to becoming a writer. • Upon graduating from high school, Hansberry decided to study at the University of Wisconsin. • While there, she became involved in several student activist organizations. • After two years at Wisconsin, Hansberry fell in love with writing and she made a decision that changed the course of her life.

36. Hansberry dropped out of Wisconsin and moved to New York City, following after her dreams of becoming a writer. While in New York, she met famous Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who would heavily influence her future works. • She took several classes, including one taught by W.E.B. DuBois, and began writing for Paul Robeson at the progressive Freedom newspaper • . Joining the Freedom staff gave Hansberry the opportunity to write some of her first essays on the state of Black America. • It was in New York City that Hansberry prospered. In 1953 Hansberry married Robert Nemiroff, a literature student and songwriter, whom she had met on a picket line protesting discrimination at New York University. • She worked as a waitress and cashier, writing on her spare time. When Nemiroff wrote a hit song, “Cindy, Oh, Cindy”, she was able to quit her job as a waitress and write full-time. • She began work on a play, originally entitled The Crystal Stair but renamed A Raisin in the Sun. Both of the titles were inspired by Langston Hughes’ poetry.

37. Themes, Motifs & SymbolsThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. A Raisin in the Sun is essentially about dreams, as the main characters’ struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives.

38. Every member of the Younger family has a separate, individual dream— • Beneatha wants to become a doctor, for example, and Walter wants to have money so that he can afford things for his family. • The Youngers struggle to attain these dreams throughout the play, and much of their happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams. • By the end of the play, they learn that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it unites the family.

39. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. • The Home • The Younger apartment is the only setting throughout the play, emphasizing the centrality of the home. • The lighting seems to change with the mood, and with only one window, the apartment is a small, often dark area in which all the Youngers—at one time or another—feel cramped. • While some of the play’s action occurs outside of the apartment, the audience sees this action play out in the household. Most of what happens outside of the apartment includes Travis’s playing out in the street with the rat and Walter’s drinking and delinquency from work. • The home is a galvanizing force for the family, one that Mama sees as crucial to the family’s unity. The audience sees characters outside the family—Joseph Asagai, George Murchison, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Lindner, and Bobo—only when they visit the apartment. • These characters become real through their interactions with the Youngers and the Youngers’ reactions to them. The play ends, fittingly, when Mama, lagging behind, finally leaves the apartment.

40. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. • “Eat Your Eggs” • This phrase appears early in the play, as an instruction from Ruth to Walter to quiet him. Walter then employs the phrase to illustrate how women keep men from achieving their goals—every time a man gets excited about something, he claims, a woman tries to temper his enthusiasm by telling him to eat his eggs. Being quiet and eating one’s eggs represents an acceptance of the adversity that Walter and the rest of the Youngers face in life. • Walter believes that Ruth, who is making his eggs, keeps him from achieving his dream, and he argues that she should be more supportive of him. The eggs she makes every day symbolize her mechanical approach to supporting him. She provides him with nourishment, but always in the same, predictable way.

41. Mama’s Plant • The most overt symbol in the play, Mama’s plant represents both Mama’s care and her dream for her family. In her first appearance onstage, she moves directly toward the plant to take care of it. • She confesses that the plant never gets enough light or water, but she takes pride in how it nevertheless flourishes under her care. • Her care for her plant is similar to her care for her children, unconditional and unending despite a less-than-perfect environment for growth. The plant also symbolizes her dream to own a house and, more specifically, to have a garden and a yard. • With her plant, she practices her gardening skills. Her success with the plant helps her believe that she would be successful as a gardener. Her persistence and dedication to the plant fosters her hope that her dream may come true.

43. Beneatha’s Hair • When the play begins, Beneatha has straightened hair. Midway through the play, after Asagai visits her and questions her hairstyle, she cuts her Caucasian-seeming hair. • Her new, radical afro represents her embracing of her heritage. Beneatha’s cutting of her hair is a very powerful social statement, as she symbolically declares that natural is beautiful, prefiguring the 1960s cultural credo that black is beautiful. • Rather than force her hair to conform to the style society dictates, Beneatha opts for a style that enables her to more easily reconcile her identity and her culture. Beneatha’s new hair is a symbol of her anti-assimilationist beliefs as well as her desire to shape her identity by looking back to her roots in Africa.

46. http://www.raisinonbroadway.com/

47. A Raisin in the Sunon Broadway • stars Sean Combs, Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, celebrated actress Phylicia Rashad and film star Sanaa Lathan. • Much more: • http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ • http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/

50. More reading • Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" Theory and the Younger Family in • Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun • http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/hansberry.html#Maslow's • STUDY GUIDES:http://www.bookrags.com/notes/rai/http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/raisin/themes.html