National Players, America’s longest-running touring theater company, will perform “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at the Southwest Minnesota State University Fine Arts Theatre. Admission is free for SMSU students and high school students, and pay-what-you-can for everyone else. National Players is the professional touring troupe and signature outreach program of Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland.

National Players is an entirely self-contained and self-sustaining tour, meaning that the ensemble members who act in the plays also serve as the tour’s stagehands, electricians, truck drivers, wardrobe crew, and much more. It is an ensemble of true “theater-makers” in the fullest sense of the word. National Players is a program of Olney Theatre Center, a professional, regional theater outside of Washington, D.C. in Montgomery County, Md.

Set “sometime between World War II and now,” “A Raisin in the Sun” explores themes of family and dreams through the Younger family, a Black American family on the south side of Chicago mourning the loss of their patriarch, Big Walter. With his death comes a life insurance payout of $10,000 — a life-changing sum for the Youngers.

National Players brings to life this timely classic in hopes to inspire audiences to hold onto their dreams, no matter the difficulties they face.

“I hope audiences walk away from ‘Raisin,’ with an understanding of how fraught dreams can be for families struggling against systemic racism,” said director Christopher Michael Richardson. “Even at Hansberry’s joyous conclusion, The Youngers and other families like them will have to continue fighting to keep their dreams alive. May their tenacity in the face of adversity inspire us all to boldly strive towards our own dreams and help others towards theirs along the way.”

Richardson is a National Players alumnus. Since performing with National Players Tour 65, Richardson has gone on to become a D.C.-area actor, director, and teaching artist. He was featured most recently in “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus: The Musical” at the Kennedy Center and “Gun and Powder” at Signature Theatre. Richardson is also a 2020 recipient of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant.

Walter C.A. Riddle plays the role of Walter Younger. Melanie A. Lawrence and Taylor Ryan Rivers play Ruth Younger and Travis Younger, respectively, Walter’s wife and son. Ariya Hawkins plays Walter’s younger sister Beneatha Younger, and Savannah Gomez plays their mother Lena Younger. Jordan Essex plays Joseph Asagai, and Lorenzo Miguel plays George Murchison. Mrs. Johnson, the Youngers’ neighbor, is played by Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, who is also a swing for the production. Max Johnson plays Karl Lindner. Phillip Snider is the stage manager for the tour.

Ethan Sinnott is the set designer, with costumes designed by Jen Gillette. Sarah Tundermann designs lights for the traveling troupe and Roc Lee is the sound designer. Lorraine Ressegger-Slone and Shannon A.L. Dorsey are co-choreographers for intimacy and violence.