NEW YORK — Two stars will align for the first major New York revival of a Lorraine Hansberry play next year.
Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan have been announced to headline the playwright’s “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” at The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Harvey Theater, with performances set to begin Feb. 4.
Directed by three-time Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman, the drama was Hansberry’s final play produced on Broadway before her death at age 34. The Chicago native was the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway with 1959′s landmark “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Kauffman presented an acclaimed revival in Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2016 that critics said was “infused with emotional intelligence, linguistic treasures and the human conditions of dread and longing that it keeps you bolt-upright in your seat.”
“The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” featured white actors in the primary roles, for a story about a disillusioned Jewish writer living in Greenwich Village among other bohemians. The three-act 1964 play involves interracial romance, bigotry, homosexuality, politics and prostitution.
“During the five years I spent working to produce the first Broadway revival of ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ in 2004, I fell in love with ‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,’” BAM artistic director David Binder said with Thursday’s announcement. “I shared this passion for Lorraine’s play with Anne and the two of us spent many, many years working together to mount the show in New York.”
Isaac, the Golden Globe Award-winning star of “A Scenes from a Marriage,” is no stranger to the stage. The 43-year-old Guatemalan heartthrob has played lead roles in off-Broadway productions of “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet.”
Brosnahan is the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning star of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The 32-year-old Tisch School of the Arts alum’s theatrical pedigree include starring roles at the Steppenwolf Theatre, a 2013 Broadway debut and her portrayal of Desdemona in “Othello ‘’ at New York Theatre Workshop opposite David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig.
According to a production rep, other casting and creatives will be announced at a later date.
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