That defining moment when you realize you’ve grown up is a high like no other. For Walter (Charles Officer), the leap into manhood is a door that must be answered when opportunity comes a knockin’.

Lorrain Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun made its debut almost half a century ago when social change was beginning to bud. The playwright’s story about a lower middle class black family in 1950s Chicago teaches educates theatergoers about personal struggles, dreams, identity, and faith, and redemption when life tempting options pull you in different directions.

At the heart of this poignant tale of a mother whose family of 5 lived with her in cramped dwelling space where personal space is non-existent. Walter dreams of making it big as an entrepreneur so he can provide for his wife, Ruth, (Abena Malika) and son. And when his mother, Lena (Alison Sealy-Smith), receives her life insurance check for her deceased husband, dreams become near reality. Lena’s daughter Beneatha (Cara Ricketts) has aspirations of her own and becoming a doctor isn’t that far fetched of an idea.

With help from Scott Reid’s atmospheric set, Weyni Mengesha reverential staging is proof that human nature hasn’t changed a bit after all these years allows the production to feel like modern day offering examining the challenges of a family breaking free from the confines that hold them back in pre-Civil Rights America.

Charles Officer amplifies this effect as a chauffeur hungering for his big break while Abena Malika boldly captures the firmness of a quintessential housewife trapped by domesticity. Cara Ricketts charms as a wide eyed female that refuses to accept her place in society but chooses a different approach than her brother.

This leaves us with the untouchable Alison Sealy-Smith whose relentless motherly love reminds us of all our paternal units who desire a better life for their children.

Little has changed today between the haves and have nots. Raisin in the Sun is a spiritual reminder of how good you have it when all that’s picture perfect seems too far around the bend.