CROOKED!

In Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play, A Raisin in the Sun, set in Chicago in the late 50’s, early 60’s, she wove a compelling story of family, love, and dreams gone awry, Willy is the character who steals the death benefit insurance money left to the family by the elder Walter Lee Younger. With a goal of keeping her family intact, Mama Younger used a portion of the money toward a down payment on a house located in a segregated part of the Chicago. The remainder, entrusted to the younger Walter Lee who has dreams of his own, is stolen by Willy Harris. CROOKED, a work of fiction, examines the life of Willy Harris, who serves a pivotal role in the original play. Willy has lived on the ‘dark side’ for much of his life. While he struggled with many of the choices he made, Willy has convinced himself that he only does what he does to avoid being one of the ‘tooken.’ Toward that end, the Younger family, Walter Lee’s friends and Willy’s list of adversaries become collateral damage as a result of Willy’s ‘Machiavellian’ machinations.