This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley.

Award-winning playwright Jeremy O'Harris has always felt a kinship to Lorraine Hansberry.

She was the first black woman to have a play, a reason in the sun, performed on Broadway,

and she's often described as one of the most significant playwrights of the 20th century.

While this spring, Harris stepped in as a producer to give one of Hansberry's lesser-known works a revival on Broadway.

The sign in Sydney Bruce Dean's window was written by Hansberry shortly before she died

of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34.

This latest revival stars Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan.

It premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music before Harris helped bring the show this spring to Broadway.

The play raises questions about art, political corruption, homosexuality, and inner racial love.

Like Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun, Jeremy O'Harris's debut on Broadway was also a smash hit.

His work Slave Play, which ran on Broadway in 2019, garnered 12 Tony Award nominations.

Harris's other works include Daddy, a play about a young black artist who gets into a relationship

with an older wealthy collector. Harris also co-wrote the 2021 film Zola with director Janissa Bravo

and served as a co-producer for season two of the HBO show Euphoria.

He guest stars as a fashion designer on season two of the Netflix series Emile Enparis.

Harris is a recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award and the Paul Avogal Playwriting Award.

Jeremy O'Harris, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thank you for having me.

Jeremy, I read that it was actually a text exchange between you and actress Rachel Brosnahan

that motivated you to step in to get this play onto Broadway after it ended its run in Brooklyn.

We're actually done pretty well. Why was it important for you to get it shown on Broadway?

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