Act 2 S1 Notes

• Bennie wears Asagai's gift
• She dances a traditional Nigerian dance
• Walter is drunk
• George comes over
• They are going to a theatre
• Bennie cut her hair off
• Walter lies about New York
• He tries to influence George
• What a shocker, Walter is angry again and talking about his dreams and no family support
• George calls Walter Prometheus
• Ruth and Walter fight (a little) but Walter says things he shouldn't have said
• They are at peace (and kiss)
• Mama comes back and shortly after that Travis comes home too
• MAMA BOUGHT A HOUSE
• IN A WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD
• Walter's dream is crushed

Notes

Mama

• Lena, Mama
• Around 60 years old
• Strong, caring, religious
• The "head" of the house
• Very christian
• Dreams about a new house and a garden
• Has a thick accent in addition to very poor education
• Wants best for her children

Ruth

• Ruth
• Around 30 years old
• Calm, caring
• Loves her son
• Very attarcive but very tired
• Thinks about the family first
• Does not dream big like Bennie/Walter
• Very similar to Mama in a sense

Walter

• Walter Lee, Brother, Walter
• 35 years old
• Ambitious
• Has a very loud voice
• Argues with Bennie
• Walks like he owns the place
• The man in the family
• Poor education
• Dreams about money
• Wants to open a liquior store

Characters:

• Ruth

• 

• I hopes to God you ain’t going to get up here first thing this morning and start talking to me ‘bout no money
• Very straightforward and calm when possible

• Tears Dry on Their Own - Amy Winehouse

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• Walter Lee

• 

• Man says to his woman: I got me a dream. His woman says: Eat your eggs. Man says: I got to take hold of this here world, baby! And a woman will say: Eat your eggs and go to work

• Loud, loving, busy, strict

• Money that's what I want

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• Lena

• 

• Ain’t nobody said you weren't grown. But you are still in my house and my presence

• Loving, caring, wise, religious, strong

• Dear Mama

Character study (Dasha, Cole, John)

1. Beneatha
2. Bennie, sister
3. 20 years old
4. Slim and intense like her brother; Not as pretty as Ruth; Has lean and almost intellectual face; Thick hair 
5. Her steps are very heavy at times when she is mad, but most of the time her walk is very light as she is still very young
6. Her speech is a mixture of many things; It's different from the rest of the family’s insofar as education has permeated her sense of English—and perhaps the Midwest rather than the South has finally—at last—won out in her inflection; but not altogether, because over all of it is a soft slurring and transformed use of vowels which is the decided influence of the Southside.
7. 
8. Has a good relationship with Mama (mother); Neutral with Ruth and Travis; Some type of tension in her relationship with brother; She is not that close with the family members as they are very different
9. She always argues with Walter (mostly about her education and the money); argued with Mama because of religion
10. She sleeps with Mama in her bedroom
11. She goes to school
12. She does not contribute much to the family 
13. Stubborn, determined, immature, strong
14. Frustrated, annoyed, sad, satisfied
15. Argues for fun with Walter Lee (s1), gets slapped by Mama for questioning Christianity (s1), talks with Asagai (s2)
16. 1) That money belongs to Mama, Walter, and it’s for her to decide how she wants to use it. I don’t care if she wants to buy a house or a rocket ship or just nail it up somewhere and look at it. It’s hers. Not ours—hers
    2) The only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people
    3) It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t accept. It’s not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God—there is only man and it is he who makes miracles!
    1)  I can’t imagine that it would hurt him—it has never hurt the roaches
    2) You never understood that there is more than one kind of feeling which can exist between a man and a woman—or, at least, there should be
    3)  I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America
17. The fact that she went to school; her father's death; constant pressure from her brother and their age difference
18. Education, education, education
19. She wants to become a doctor 
20. Education, education, education
21. Spend on her future - eg education, real estate
22. 
23. Run the World by Beyonce, God is a Woman by A. Grande, Sit Still Look Pretty by Daya, Confident by D. Lovato, No Excuses by M. Trainor, Fight Song by R. Platten, Stubborn Woman by D. Jade, Independent Women Pt by Destiny's child
24. A donkey because they are very stubborn
25. Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama

Scene 2 notes

• Saturday morning cleaning
• Cracks on the walls
• Travis doesn't know about Ruth collapsing
• At first, Bennie doesn't know where Ruth is either
• Ruth went to the doctor
• Cockroaches in the apartment so Bennie has to spray everything
• Asagai is coming over
• RUTH IS PREGNANT (2 months)
• Ruth cries
• Travis plays with the rat on the street and the other children
• Ruth covers his mouth when he talks about killing the rat
• Asagai comes over and brings Benny presents from Nigeria
• Asagai likes her but she does not like him back
• He has a Nigerian nickname for her
• The mailman brings the check
• Walter wouldn't listen to Ruth
• Mama does not give the money to Walter
• She tells Walter about the baby
• Ruth does abortion (or wants to?)
• Mama says her son is a disgrace
• Walter leaves the house

Quick question

1. Get into NYU, make lots of friends and decide what I want to do with my life
2. Continue mom's business successfully, travel to Japan and be super healthy
3. I get sad and lose motivation, but start doing something else instead
4. Both Bennie and Ruth, because Bennie is a teenager and her behavior around others is very relatable, and Ruth because she is very softhearted and the strongest mentally
5. I would feel trapped because of how hopeless the situation is; Also possibly depressed because I would not be able to do anything to help and most likely would feel like a burden

A Raisin in the Sun comments

• The family lives in a space too small to fit everyone with comfort - a mother and her daughter sleep in one bedroom, her son and his wife sleep in another, and their son sleeps in the living room
• The mother (Mama, Lena) is in her 60s
• The daughter (Beneatha) is about 20 years old
• The son (Walter Lee) is around 35 years old
• His wife (Ruth Younger) is in her 30s
• Their son (Travis) is 10-11 years old
• The setting and the details are not certain - Travis's age is 10-11 y.o., they share the bathroom with the other family/families
• The furniture in their home is very old and worn out
• They are a low-income colored family
• Ruth refuses to give 50 cents to Travis because they don't have money
• Their speech is not very "educated" (such as "You looks")
• Read the "paper" - newspaper
• All are curious about the check - insurance
• Bennie wants to be a doctor and her brother is mad about it because the school requires money
• Mama is very religious - Christian
• Mama's husband worked himself to death
• Mama's dream about a new house never came true
• Beneatha does not believe in God
• She is very stubborn and determined
• 
  

Feedback

Zach and Bowen

1. I was in the bathroom :(

Cole and Tom

1. A big improvement compared to the first performance - the beginning and the middle became a lot more clear. Good use of props and the stage
2. The ending was a bit unclear
3. Fear/misunderstanding
4. Friends
5. They could've added some lines to make a better ending

Amy and John

1. Good voice projection, good use of props
2. The meaning of "Don't" was unclear
3. Fear, anger, frustration, misunderstanding
4. Father/daughter
5. They could've edited the script to make the story a bit clearer

Mike and Percy

1. Good emotion and body language
2. A bit of confusion in the beginning
3. Frustration, calmness
4. Students - classmates
5. They could project their voices to make them a bit louder and therefore make the story more convincing

Abe and Dasha

1. Good use of space, good voice projection, the story is very clear, good emotion
2. The relationship was unclear in the first try
3. Anger, misunderstanding, frustration
4. A couple
5. Use more convincing body language