Cash Holland (Ruth) and Solomon Israel (Walter) | A Raisin in the Sun | Photo © Ikin Yum
Are you looking for audio-visual resources to introduce and celebrate Black History Month?
From full-length productions and poetry recitals, to e-learning workshops, interviews, and written resources, Digital Theatre+ has you covered.
Discover our top resource recommendations for Black History Month below...
Key Scenes: A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a staple of English and Theatre curricula. The 1959 play follows the Younger family on Chicago's South Side, as they navigate their hopes, dreams, and grief after their father's death. With this play, Lorraine Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway, making this an essential piece of arts history for Black History Month.
The Digital Theatre+ collection includes:
-
5-minute key scene extracts showcasing some of the most powerful moments of the play, including Lena and Ruth's insurance discussion (Act 1, Scene 1), and Mr. Lindner's response to hearing the Younger family's decision (Act 3).
- Exclusive cast interviews from the cast of Tinuke Craig's 2024 production, including 'Solomon Israel on Playing Walter Lee', and 'Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman on Playing Beneatha'.
- A Raisin in the Sun: A Critical Introduction by Sandra Adell (Professor of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison).
These resources are available to US and UK subscribers.
Explore A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Exclusive license granted by Joi Gresham and the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust (LHLT) for limited use of scenes from A Raisin in the Sun. Key scenes are were captured live by Digital Theatre+ from Tinuke Craig's 2024 production, a Headlong, Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, and Nottingham Playhouse co-production.
Production: Pipeline
American playwright Dominique Morisseau's Pipeline is another fantastic choice for Black History Month. With themes of race, class, family and community, this provocative piece reveals the challenges faced by Black youths in the American education system as a public school teacher fights for her son’s future.
While teaching this production, you can also access an accompanying activity pack filled with practical exercises, resources and assessment strategies to support your lessons and add context to your students’ learning.
Find out more about Dominique Morisseau on this practitioner page
Free Lesson Plans for English & Theatre
Spend less time planning and more time teaching this Black History Month – download a free ready-to-go lesson plan for English or Theatre today!
These 50-minute lesson plans include engaging class starters and exit ticket activities, multimodal exercises, and built-in 'stretch and simplify' scaffolding to support different learning levels.
Choose from two lesson plans:
- English: Analyzing Word Choice in the Poetry of Langston Hughes
- Theatre: Create a Sound Design for 'Harlem' by Langston Hughes
Find out more and download your free lesson plan today!
Poetry in Action: Recitals & Analysis Videos
The Digital Theatre+ Poetry in Action series combines recitals of commonly-taught poems with expert analysis videos to help your students explore themes, language, and rhythm in poetry.
Top poems for Black History Month:
Access recitals, analysis videos, and poetry print-outs with a free trial to Digital Theatre+
Interview: Black Artists on Inclusivity in Musical Theatre
Engage your musical theatre students and help them to make cultural connections with this groundbreaking interview series, which explores inclusivity and representation in musical theatre and features leading Broadway artists from historically marginalised communities.
In the Black Artists on Inclusivity in Musical Theatre episode, Tony Award-winning writer and director George C. Wolfe (Caroline, or Change, Shuffle Along) and actress Nikki Renée Daniels (Hamilton, The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess) discuss challenging stereotypes, playing Black characters, and developing an inclusive curriculum – as well as offering invaluable advice to young artists.
To support your teaching of this episode, you can also access accompanying activities to facilitate discussion and strengthen learning.
Access this full interview series with a free trial to Digital Theatre+
Workshop: Unlocking Community: Race and Representation
This 10-minute workshop focuses on the importance of racial representation in the arts. It explores how representation has changed over time, and encourages your students to consider the importance of representation across media, entertainment, and the wider arts.
This e-learning workshop is part of our Unlocked: Community series, which offers a range of short, accessible videos tailored to build students' social and emotional skills. Each episode focuses on core areas of learning, explores key quotations and terminology, and includes knowledge-checking questions to test their understanding.
To support your teaching, you can also access the accompanying Unlocking Community: Teacher Notes, which includes further related resources and teaching strategies.
Find out more about Unlocked resources on Digital Theatre+
About Digital Theatre+
Digital Theatre+ is your online education platform for Theatre & English. Find powerful planning tools for K-12 through to Higher Education, engaging productions from leading arts organizations, and standards-aligned resources to support every learning style.
Book a 5-minute demo to find out how Digital Theatre+ could support your institution.