Originally conceived as a radio presentation in conjunction with WBAI, To Be Young, Gifted and Black opened at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City on January 2, 1969. A second production, directed by Gigi Cascio and Robert Nemiroff was mounted at the Playhouse-in-the-Park (Philadelphia) in the summer of 1969. This is the full cast recording of the production directed by Gigi Cascio and Robert Nemiroff. The cast includes James Earl Jones, Camille Yarborough, John Towey, Barbara Baxley, Garn Stephens, Claudia McNeil, and Tina Sattin.
Hansberry, Lorraine. Lorraine Hansberry: To Be Young Gifted and Black. 1971 full cast recording with James Earl Jones, Camille Yarborough, John Towey, Barbara Baxley, Garn Stephens, Claudia McNeil, and Tina Sattin. Directed by Gigi Cascio and Robert Nemiroff. Caedmon Records: (TRS342, 1971).
Additional Resources
“To Be Young Gifted and Black.” Directed by Michael Schultz. John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Library Video Classics Project. 1972. PBS/WNET Television. (Video release, Monterey Video, 1998. 120 min.
Hansberry, Lorraine. The Lorraine Hansberry Audio Collection. Includes full cast productions of the 1969 recording of A Raisin in the Sun and 1972 recording of To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. The final selection is Lorraine Hansberry Speaks Out, a collection of seven interviews and speeches recorded between 1959 and 1964. 6 hours. Harper Audio/Caedmon: Abridged edition (April 2009).
Hansberry, Lorraine. “The Nation Needs Your Gifts.” Speech to Readers Digest/United Negro College Fund creative writing contest winners, NYC, May 1, 1964. Reprinted in Negro Digest 13 (August 1964): 26–29.
Hansberry, Lorraine. To Be Young Gifted and Black: A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, adapted by Robert Nemiroff. Acting Edition. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 1999.
Hansberry, Lorraine. To Be Young Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, adapted by Robert Nemiroff. With drawings and art by Lorraine Hansberry, an Introduction by James Baldwin, and a new Preface by Jewell Handy Gresham Nemiroff. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.