Only two of Lorraine Hansberry’s plays were staged during her lifetime. You’re probably familiar with the first, A Raisin in the Sun; Hansberry was just 28 when her story about a Black Chicago family hit Broadway in 1959, launching her to fame. But you may never have heard of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, which premiered on Broadway in 1964 and closed a few days before the playwright’s death in 1965. While fellow artists, including James Baldwin and Mike Nichols, campaigned to keep the show open, some critics seemed to think it was too much of a departure: They expected Hansberry to write about working-class Black families. This was about Greenwich Village bohemians, and only one character was specified as Black.
This month, The Sign gets its first New York revival since 1972. A new production at BAM, directed by Anne Kauffman and still set in the 1960s, stars Oscar Isaac as Sidney, an idealistic alt-press publisher, and Rachel Brosnahan as his wife, the struggling actress Iris. The play follows Sidney as he gets involved with the campaign of a seemingly progressive politician (thus the sign in the window) and strains his marriage. Neither Isaac nor Brosnahan — who was coming off her title role in the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel— knew much about the play before being approached for it. Both actors say they see Hansberry as exploring the limits of self-proclaimed allies.
“It’s very much a play of its time,†says Isaac. “But you hear this prophetic voice that’s speaking to things that are about to unfold in the civil-rights movement and the psychedelic movement with the kind of division and fatigue that’s happening now. Everyone in the audience gets provoked.â€
Brosnahan and Isaac in rehearsal. This play marks the first time they’ve worked together.
Brosnahan’s character changes hair color over the course of the play, from brunette to blonde.
Isaac says the characters are both “playful with each other and really vicious.†He adds, “It’s been about finding the facility between those things and building trust.â€
In character as Iris and Sidney.
Isaac rehearses with Gus Birney, who plays Iris’s sister Gloria, and Glenn Fitzgerald, who plays their gay upstairs neighbor, David Ragin. The play documents details of early-’60s counterculture — including in this scene, where the characters try pills.
“Sidney’s rage and the way it manifests has been an interesting thing to find,†says Isaac. “There’s a Greek tragedy at the center. He’s a character who seems to understand the way the world works, and then there’s a breaking apart of that in order for him to be able to see again.â€
Brosnahan, Isaac, and Julian De Niro, who plays the Brusteins’ friend Alton Scales, go over notes with director Anne Kauffman (center). Kauffman previously brought The Sign to Chicago in 2016.
In her dressing room, Brosnahan listens to music as she gets into character. “I have Joan Baez Spotify on shuffle,†she says.
“I was thinking this would be a nice respite from the exhaustion of Mrs. Maisel,†says Brosnahan, “but it’s a totally different kind.â€
Brosnahan prepares backstage. “Iris is described as very childlike, so I’ve been doing a lot of movement to loosen my body and let go of the center,†she says.
In his dressing room, Isaac prepares with vocal exercises and a “super-mellow†playlist made by a friend who does tea ceremonies. “I’ve got pictures of my family everywhere,†he says. “I used to feel like I wanted to go away from my life to understand a different life, and I’m playing with what happens when both sides come together.â€
The cast stretches before a preview performance.
Brosnahan makes her entrance as Iris.
The team behind this production consulted with Hansberry’s estate, making sense of various iterations of the script she left behind. “It reminds me of working on Shakespeare, where you have different folios,†Isaac says. “You do an investigation of what speaks to you between the different versions of the play.â€
Brosnahan exits after a scene during a preview performance.
Isaac heads home from BAM by bicycle: “I live really close to the theater, so it feels almost nine-to-five-ish. It’s kind of the neighborhood playhouse.â€
Photographs by Philip Montgomery
Brosnahan and Isaac in rehearsal. This play marks the first time they’ve worked together.
Brosnahan’s character changes hair color over the course of the play, from brunette to blonde.
Isaac says the characters are both “playful with each other and really vicious.†He adds, “It’s been about finding the facility between those things and building trust.â€
In character as Iris and Sidney.
Isaac rehearses with Gus Birney, who plays Iris’s sister Gloria, and Glenn Fitzgerald, who plays their gay upstairs neighbor, David Ragin. The play documents details of early-’60s counterculture — including in this scene, where the characters try pills.
“Sidney’s rage and the way it manifests has been an interesting thing to find,†says Isaac. “There’s a Greek tragedy at the center. He’s a character who seems to understand the way the world works, and then there’s a breaking apart of that in order for him to be able to see again.â€
Brosnahan, Isaac, and Julian De Niro, who plays the Brusteins’ friend Alton Scales, go over notes with director Anne Kauffman (center). Kauffman previously brought The Sign to Chicago in 2016.
In her dressing room, Brosnahan listens to music as she gets into character. “I have Joan Baez Spotify on shuffle,†she says.
“I was thinking this would be a nice respite from the exhaustion of Mrs. Maisel,†says Brosnahan, “but it’s a totally different kind.â€
Brosnahan prepares backstage. “Iris is described as very childlike, so I’ve been doing a lot of movement to loosen my body and let go of the center,†she says.
In his dressing room, Isaac prepares with vocal exercises and a “super-mellow†playlist made by a friend who does tea ceremonies. “I’ve got pictures of my family everywhere,†he says. “I used to feel like I wanted to go away from my life to understand a different life, and I’m playing with what happens when both sides come together.â€
The cast stretches before a preview performance.
Brosnahan makes her entrance as Iris.
The team behind this production consulted with Hansberry’s estate, making sense of various iterations of the script she left behind. “It reminds me of working on Shakespeare, where you have different folios,†Isaac says. “You do an investigation of what speaks to you between the different versions of the play.â€
Brosnahan exits after a scene during a preview performance.
Isaac heads home from BAM by bicycle: “I live really close to the theater, so it feels almost nine-to-five-ish. It’s kind of the neighborhood playhouse.â€
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