by Michele Markarian

“A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. Directed by Lois Roach.  Presented by New Repertory Theatre, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA through October 1.

“Colored folks ain’t gonna get ahead in the world unless they start investing in some different things,” Walter Lee Younger (Damon Singletary) says to his wife, Ruth Younger (Lorraine Victoria Kanyike). Walter is tired of chauffeuring around rich white men and wants to do something of his own, namely, set up a bar with two friends.  He’s hoping that his Mama Lena (the magnificent Juanita Rodrigues) will give him access to an insurance check coming to the household, after the death of his father, Walter. But Lena wants to move her family to a more spacious home in a nice neighborhood, rather than stay in the dilapidated apartment she’s had since the beginning of her marriage. Walter feels trapped, caught between two oppressors – the white world of privilege and his domineering mother.  His manhood, and judgment, are affected by it.  When a mild-mannered white man, Karl Lindner (Jon Vallante), from the neighborhood association of the home they’ve yet to move into comes to the apartment with a proposition, Walter Lee has to decide what kind of man he wants to be.

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