The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan

Oscar Isaac (Scenes from a Marriage, Hamlet, Star Wars) and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Dead for a Dollar, Othello) star in Lorraine Hansberry’s (A Raisin in the Sun) sweeping drama of identity, idealism, and love. With direction by Anne Kauffman, BAM's production marks the first major New York revival since the original Broadway run.

Hansberry invites us into Greenwich Village in the 60s, crafting a razor-sharp portrait of a diverse group of friends whose progressive dreams can’t quite match reality. At the center are Sidney and Iris Brustein, fighting to see if their marriage—with all its crackling wit, passion, and petty cruelty—can survive Sidney’s ideals. As if reaching across the decades, Hansberry’s incisive final work offers shockingly contemporary provocations.

Discover this “astonishing force” (The Chicago Tribune) from one of America’s greatest playwrights when it finally returns to New York.

See Emmy Award winner Rachel Brosnahan and Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for six weeks only. Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window returns to New York for the first time in more than 50 years. Get The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window tickets on TodayTix.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, "a masterpiece lost in plain sight" per the Chicago Tribune, is only elevated by the talent at its center. Isaac (Star Wars) and Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) are Sidney and Iris Brustein, a couple with a lively, vibrant marriage — that's in danger of ending over Sidney's unrealistic political ideals. Spend a few hours in 1960s Greenwich Village with A-list stars in this show about passion and idealism by one of the most celebrated American playwrights in history.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window had a short-lived Broadway premiere in 1964 and an even shorter revival in 1972. The 2023 revival has technically been in the works since 2004. David Binder, BAM's artistic director, produced the first Broadway revival of Hansberry's most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun, that year — a revival that made Tony winners of Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad. While involved with that show, he discovered Sidney Brustein and decided to produce that show someday, too.

Binder's vision finally comes to life with director Anne Kauffman at the helm. She premiered this revival production, with a different cast, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in 2016 to critical acclaim.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window off Broadway marks Brosnahan's first stage performance since 2016's Othello, in which she starred opposite Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo. Previously, she made her Broadway debut in 2013's The Big Knife. She's best known, however, for playing the stand-up comic Midge in the hit TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which earned her an Emmy Award.

Isaac last graced the New York stage a bit more recently, in 2017's Hamlet at The Public Theater. His best-known credits include Show Me a Hero, which earned him a Golden Globe, along with the latest Star Wars trilogy, Scenes From a Marriage, and Marvel's Moon Knight.

Before the "closed" sign appears in the window, get tickets to The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in New York.

What to Watch For

• In 1964, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was set to close on Broadway early, and celebrities including James Baldwin, Sammy Davis, and Paddy Chayefsky campaigned to save the show. A similar movement happened in 2022, with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Tyler Perry, and more expressing support for the Broadway play Ain't No Mo'.
• The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was the only other play besides A Raisin in the Sun to be produced during Hansberry's lifetime. She died on January 12, 1965; Sidney Brustein closed on January 10.
• The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window includes references to historical figures like political leader Fidel Castro, pioneer Daniel Boone, French novelist Jean Genet, and musician Joan Baez.
• There's also a reference to Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman, another great American play that was just revived on Broadway in fall 2022.
• The original Broadway production of Sidney Brustein starred Gabriel Dell and Rita Moreno.