Farcical message play PURLIE VICTORIOUS at Karamu

 

“Neither Ruby Dee or Ossie Davis ever appeared in a Karamu stage production but both had significant presence and impact in the organization and in the lives of Karamu artists. They often visited for speaking engagements, to instruct master classes, and to support Karamu's mission.” The duo met at Karamu.   Dee’s large portrait adorns one of the walls at the oldest Black Theatre in the country, which she loved and supported.   Davis’s play, PURLIE VICTORIOUS, which once starred the duo, is now on stage at Karamu.   The story follows Purlie Victorious Judson, a Black traveling preacher who returns to his segregated Georgia hometown with the purpose of claiming his inheritance and buying and rehabbing its now derelict black church.  His obstacle?  The town, is in the grip of racist tyrant Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee.   PURLIE VICTORIOUS is alternately titled, A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH.   Yes, this is farce!  With, of course, a happy ending!   Leslie Odom, Jr., credited Ossie Davis with giving the American theater an American hero in Purlie Judson.  He stated, “I have loved this piece and its author, Mr. Davis, for well over half my life. His writing and acting, his integrity, the commitment he and his brilliant wife made to nurturing young talent, and the example of citizenship have meant so much to me! Mr. Davis’s pages are full of joy and rhythm, laughter and hope.”    One review of PURLIE VICTORIOUS, which opened on Broadway in 1961, stated that, "It is marvelously exhilarating to hear the Negro speak for himself, especially when he does so in the fullness of his native gusto and the enveloping heartiness of his overflowing laughter."   In viewing this play, it must be remembered that it represents the era and attitudes of the 60’s, not 2024.  It must be realized that many of the changes regarding segregation, integration and gains by African Americans were not fully in effect.  Many of the attitudes and situations expressed by Davis are no longer in existence.     It is not surprising that the primarily black audience at Karamu the afternoon I saw the production probably didn’t react as the viewers of the mid-20th century probably did.  There were few call-and-responses, few gasps to the treatment of the blacks by the “massa,” not even many laughs at the farce.  Yes, the play is very dated and has lost some of its effect.    How effective is the Karamu version?   In seeing a production at Karamu, due to its many fine past stagings, such as BLACK NATVITY, THE COLOR PURPLE and PASSING STRANGE, all of which were recognized as being among area’s best shows by both the Cleveland Critics Circle and Broadwayworld.com-Cleveland, it can be ignored that this is not a professional theatre.   Added to the situation is that farce is very difficult to perform.  The exaggerations must be realistic, yet overdone.  The slapstick must result in the audience laughing at the situation, not the gimmicks that insighted the ridiculousness.  The timing must be perfect.  Unfortunately, this was not always the case.   Does this mean the show is now worth seeing?  Absolutely not.  It is a valuable piece of historical theatre, that shows, through exaggeration what times were like.   Capsule judgment:  The cast, headed by Dyrell Barnett, as Purlie, gives full-effort and has some fine moments.  Treva Offutt directs. If you are interested in seeing a slice of Black Americana, and want to back the continued efforts of Karamu, the country’s oldest Black theatre, go see PURLIE VICTORIOUS!   PURLIE VICTORIOUS runs through 9/27 -10/20 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street. For tickets call 216-795-7077 or go on-line to Karamuhouse.org   PLEASE VOTE YES ON ISSUE 55:  Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), which was approved by voters in 2006 and reapproved in 2015 allows CAC to fund millions of arts and cultural experiences for residents each year.

Karamu stages the world premiere of THE BREAKFAST AT THE BOOKSTORE

 

Lisa Langford, the author of THE BREAKFAST AT THE BOOKSTORE, which is getting its world premiere at Karamu, the nation’s oldest African American theater, is a Cleveland based actress and playwright.   This script won the Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s 2022 New Play Contest.   The play, which contains adult language, sexual suggestiveness, and descriptions of violence, is set in a Glenville storefront in 1973.    The tale centers on Dot, who wants to be an activist and support the Black liberation movement by opening a revolutionary bookstore which will serve free breakfasts to the local people.  A conflict centers on the opposition of her common-law husband and a former Black nationalist, who is opposed to the idea. Why Dot had this strong drive to give out free breakfasts is not clearly developed in the script, which is divided into 12 scenes, and is often short on clarity and references which might clarify for the viewer.   The play also lacks meaning, for example, if the viewer does not know, as the program indicates, that “UFO traditions are closely related to Black supernatural traditions.  For African Americans, generally, the supernatural isn’t spooky:  ancestors hang around, they help us.   [The supernatural] gives them a sense of meaning in the concrete world in a way that allows them to re-envision who they are to empower themselves in a world they see as against them.”     Though long-term locals may know, but newbies or those not from the area will not be aware, is that in 1968 the Glenville Uprising took place.   As the program notes indicate: “For several hours, gunfire engulfed the Black neighborhood of Glenville [located along the East 105th corridor between Euclid and St. Clair Avenues]. The Black Nationalists of New Libya exchanged shots with the Cleveland Police Department from the apartments and homes.  By the end of the night, seven men had been killed, including three police officers, three black nationalists, and one civilian.  Several houses in the Glenville neighborhood were on fire and at least 15 individuals were injured.”    Nina Dominque, the play’s director, in her “Director’s Note” states: “Dot represents all the young people trying to find their place in activist spaces.”    The cast, Dar’Jon Bentley (Haywood), Mariah Burks (Dot on the night I saw the show), Carolyn Demanelis (Fran) and Prophet Seay (Sharpe) were excellent in developing the characters they were given to play.   The set, lights, costumes and sound all aided in developing the production. Capsule judgment:  According to the program notes, Dot, the fulcrum around which the plot circulates, “represents the next generation of freedom fighters who refuse to be restricted by binaries and demand that we acknowledge their full humanity in all its complexity.”  Oh, if that were only true, and the playwright made this clearer in her writing.  As is, I doubt whether that erudite message was what many in the audience garnered from the presentation. THE BREAKFAST AT THE BOOKSTORE runs January 26-February 18, 2024 at Karamu.  For tickets call 216-795-7077 or go to karamuhouse.org Next up: March 8-31, 2024, IT HAPPENED IN ATLANTA--—As four college friends from Cleveland come together for their 20th college reunion weekend they are forced to wrestle with what happened in Atlanta.

CLYDE'S @ KARAMU

 

Lynn Nottage, the author of CLYDE’S, now in production at Karamu, is the first woman to win two Pulitzer Prizes for works of drama.  

She tends to write about people trapped in abusive type relationships. 

As the director’s program notes state, “[Nottage] gives voice to the voiceless and overlooked. . . creating relatable humans to draw you in while offering a mirror for reflection.”  

In her play RUINED, the women were the target of terrorists in the Congolese civil war. 

In SWEAT, steelworkers resisting their union-busting management inexorably wind up busting one another.

CLYDE’S finds former incarnated kitchen staff members working at a truck-stop sandwich shop in Reading, Pennsylvania, attempting to rebuild their lives but, but their tough-as-nails boss Clyde enjoys pointing out, she’s the only employer in the area who will hire “morons” like them. She does so not because she too was once incarcerated. (Of the crime that landed her in prison the only thing she says is that the last man who tried to hurt her “isn’t around to try again, I made damn sure of that.”)  She is a woman who appears to have an unsatisfying life and finds great pleasure in making life miserable for others.

In order to make life bearable, each staff member is encouraged by the chef to indulge in imagining, then creating their perfect sandwich, thus, he believes, that they can transcend their mistakes and reconnect with the world.
 
Each has tale, which gradually unfolds. 
 
Letitia “got greedy” and stole “some oxy and addy to sell on the side” after breaking into a pharmacy to obtain “seizure medication” for her daughter. 
 
Rafael held up a bank but with a BB gun, because he wanted to buy his girlfriend a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. 
 
We don’t at first get the story of how Montrellous wound up behind bars, but he is so saintly that Letitia believes it must have been elective.
 
CLYDE’S is about dark things, including prison, drugs, homelessness and poverty, yet it has many comic moments.
 
The 90-minute play without an intermission, under the direction of Treva Offutt, is satisfying in some aspects, frustrating in others.
 
For the play to work, because of the realism of the writing, the people on stage must be real, not acting.  Jaren Hodgson (Jason), Maxx (Letitia), Prophet Seay (Montrellous) and Jonathan Rodriguez (Raphael) are all spot on.  Unfortunately, whether directed to do so, or having created the role herself, Dayshawnda Ash (Clyde), though she has some fine moments, generally acts, poses and creates a caricature rather than the necessary authentic person.
 
Richard H. Morris, Jr.’s realistic set design works well and Dred Gelb must have cleaned out a local restaurant for all the authentic utensils and other props which add to the authenticity of the prep room.  Too bad same cannot be said as to the preparation of the food served.  A pita with a couple of pieces of vegetables in it does not a sandwich make.  Where were the sides in serving baskets?  Where is the realistic prepping and serving of food?  If we don’t see real, we cannot believe in real.
 
Capsule judgment: Though very talky, with little to no action, CLYDE’S, with its many laughs, makes for an interesting evening of theatre. Fortunately, it ends with a positive, though some might think, unrealistic message.
 
For tickets call Karamu, 216-795-7077 or go to karamuhouse.org

Next up:  12/1-16/2023—Langston Hughes’ BLACK NATIVITY (presented at Cleveland Play House)—The soulful, heartwarming story, gospel celebration.

BUBBLY BLACK GIRL lights up stage at Karamu

 

It’s been called “…[a] sharp and tasty new musical…charming…as the show ingeniously turns professional perkiness, the lifeblood of the American musical, into a funny, poignant comment on ethnic self-denial.”

It’s been described as “The play opens with an explosion of music…accessible and enjoyable to people of all races and genders…the bubbly mixture of humor and pathos makes for an entertaining—but not feather weight—show.”
 
Audiences have been apprised that it “speaks with wisdom and resonance not only to African-American audiences that share her experience and reference, but to any sensitive soul who ever has been on the outside, struggling to fit in.”
 
What am I talking about?  THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CAMELEON SKIN, Kristen Childs’ musical now on stage at Karamu, Cleveland’s home to the nation’s longest performing Black theatre.
 
Karamu, where Russell and Rowena Jellife, two Oberlin graduates, in 1915 founded a settlement house on the corner of East 38^th Street and Central Avenue, that eventually became a magnet for many of the best African-American artists.
 
In the 1920s the Jellifes sponsored the Dumas Dramatic Club, which eventually evolved into a well-known and respected Karamu theatre under the guidance of Reuben and Dorothy Silver.  During the tenure of the Silvers “works by African American authors such as Langston Hughes and LeRoi Jones, as well as classics from the American theater were staged.”  Colored-blind casting reigned and there was a general atmosphere of interracial theatre.
 
In the 1960s and 70s “Urban unrest and the growing Black Arts Movement forced a reconsideration of Karamu's goals as they related to interracial theater.”  The Silvers were replaced, the dramatic performance space floundered with confused lack of purpose until Tony Sias, the present President and CEO, took over.  Now, under his guidance important and appropriate plays like BUBBLY BLACK GIRL are being staged.
 
As Sias describes the present script, “It is not often that we see a coming-of-age story about a young Black girl on stage, especially one who is an artist, trying to self-actualize in America.” 
 
He goes on, “While we use music and humor as our mantra, our [Karamu’s] tradition is to have you walk away with a better understanding of how the theatre is not only a place of entertainment, but a place where stories of fiction can help us relate to and learn how to cope with and tackle real life experiences.”

BUBBLY BLACK GIRL asks a series of questions centering on “What's a black girl [Viveca] from sunny Southern California to do?  White people are blowing up black girls in Birmingham churches. Black people are shouting ‘Black is beautiful’ while straightening their hair and coveting light skin. The answer?  Slap on a bubbly smile and be as white as you can be! In a humorous and pointed coming-of-age story spanning the sixties through the nineties, Viveca blithely sails through the confusing worlds of racism, sexism and Broadway showbiz until she's forced to face the devastating effect self-denial has had on her life.”

It must be remembered when seeing and evaluating productions of shows done at Karamu and other community non-Equity theatres, that their casts are usually populated by enthusiastic but often undertrained and non-professionally experienced performers.  They are seldom, if ever, “better than Broadway,” in spite of the views of friends and family.

BUBBLY BLACK GIRL is a case in point.  While expertly directed by Nina Dominque and creatively choreographed Kenya Woods, the cast is often stretched beyond their acting, singing and dancing abilities.

Highlights of this production include Kennedi Hobbs, who is pleasing as Viveca (aka Bubbly), Dayshawnda Ash, who brings down the house with her rendition of “Granny’s Advice,” and Jaren Hodgson who is properly obnoxious as Director Bob (Bob Fosse, in obvious disguise).

Edward Ridley, Jr. and his musicians do an incredible job of interpreting the score. Joe Burke’s projection and Cameron Caley Michalak’s scenic designs help enhance the production.

Capsule judgment:  No, it’s not a production better than Broadway, but THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN gets a very creditable production and continues the role of Karamu in presenting Black-themed shows to its appreciative and enthusiastic audiences. 

BUBBLY BLACK GIRL runs through May 14, 2023 in the Jelliffe Theatre, 2355 East 89^th Street.  There is free parking in a guarded lot adjacent to the theatre.  For tickets go to karamuhouse.org 

Brilliant acting and superb script make AMERICAN MOOR a must see at Karamu

 

AMERICAN MOOR, which is now on stage at Karamu, America’s oldest Black Theatre, is a compelling exploration of Shakespeare, race, and America.  It is brilliantly performed by Keith Hamilton Cobb, who is also the play’s author.

The story-line examines what happens when an experienced African American actor, who is well versed and trained in classical theater, auditions for the lead-role in Othello.  “He is met with prejudice, racism and privilege while negotiating with a young, white director who presumes to understand Shakespeare’s Moorish prince far better than the performer standing before him.” 

Certainly, the auditioning actor, as we quickly find out, has reasons to seethe.  How do you show everything you can bring to a complicated role in five minutes to an arrogant, self-proclaimed misguided “expert”?

But this actor, played by Cobb and called Keith, to acknowledge the semi-autobiographical nature of the play, has other beefs beyond the absurdity of this situation.

The white director shows little respect for the actor, by showing up late.  With no explanation of why he is tardy, his first comments are about Keith’s height: “Man! You’re tall!” (Yes, Cobb is tall, probably 6’ 5, and big.  His overly tight shirt, which is straining to cover his massive gym toned, muscle-rippling body, makes him imposing.).  Then, the director sets out to explain, in a pedantic, self-superior way, to an actor with twice his experience, exactly the psyche and motivations of black Othello. 
 
The racial tension of the situation is quickly apparent and the reality of the actor’s frustration centers on the fact that what unfolds is not only about performing OTHELLO but also, about being Othello: a black man trying to find a path to excellence in a society anxious to keep him “in his place.”
 
In a tour-de-force performance, Cobb gives a master class on Shakespeare and, through electric storytelling, explores the inequities of life as a Black actor and life as a Black man.
The set, an open stage with the brick backwall on display, contains empty chairs and several massive columns.  The lighting and underlying music help set the right moods.
 
Capsule judgment:  For anyone who wants to experience a performance that balances dynamism and lyricism with amazing skill, AMERICAN MOOR is a must-see."   This is a sensational night of theatre. Bravo!!!!

Tickets:  Call 216-795-7070 or https://karamuhouse.secure.force.com/ticket#/events/a0S5G00000IRs4sUAD

Relevant MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM gets strong production at Karamu

August Wilson, the author of MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, which is now in production at Karamu, America’s oldest African American producing theatre, is known as "theater's poet of Black America." 
 
Wilson is best noted for a series of ten plays, collectively called The Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicle the experiences and heritage of the African-American community in the 20th century. Several of the plays in the series, including MA RAINEY, won Tony Awards.  

Written in 1982, the play is set in a recording studio in Chicago in 1920.  It deals with issues of race, the attitudes of Blacks regarding Whites, religion, and the historic exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers.
Ma Rainey was a real-life performer, known as “The Mother of the Blues.”  

Despite its title, which refers to one of Rainey’s signature songs, this is not a musical.  It is a play with incidental music.

“In a Chicago recording studio in 1927, Ma Rainey's band players Cutler, Toledo, Slow Drag, and Levee gather to record a new album of her songs. As they wait for her to arrive they tell stories, joke, philosophize, and argue. Tension is apparent between the young hot-headed trumpeter Levee, who dreams of having his own band, and veterans Cutler and Toledo.”  This tension culminates in a startling ending which mirrors the Black-Black self-destruction often seen on the streets of many major cities.

The Karamu production, under the direction of Justin Emeka, is framed by a wonderful set and era-correct costumes.
 
The cast is excellent.  
 
Jaris Owen is seething as Levee, a young trumpeter and composer, who mirrors the rage of the young black man, feeling he is being held back and psychologically abused by the white musical establishment, as well as by the “don’t make waves” older Black musicians.  His “rage” speeches and eventual acting out, vividly screams out as the voice of the real or perceived oppressed.
 
Cornell Hubert hits the right notes as Cutler, the older Black orchestra leader, brought up in the Negro-era of being subservient to the rules of White America.  He “shuffles” through life doing what he needs to do in order to not set off waves.
 
Christina Johnson presents a Ma Rainey who has learned that she has a talent that is needed by the White music producers, which gives her the ability to demand the Coca-Colas that she requires, sing the arrangements she wants, and drag along the entourage that she desires.  She both looks and sings like the living legend.
 
The show’s missing element is the use of recorded music rather than having the on-stage actors play their instruments.
 
Capsule judgment:  MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is a well-written, well-performed play, that grabs and holds the attention.  The author, August Wilson, as is his usual manner, brings a strong spotlight onto the plight of the Black population in America.  This is a production well worth seeing!  (Side-note:  The theatre is chilly.  Be advised to bring along a sweater or jacket.) 
 
Special notice:  Be aware that masks are to be worn at all times at Karamu, regardless of vaccination status.  Upon entry all patrons must show proof of vaccination reflecting 14-days since the second/final dose or evidence of a negative PCR molecular or antigen COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of arrival.
 
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM runs October 7-31, 2021 in the Jelliffe Theatre.  For tickets go to:  https://karamuhouse.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0S5G00000IRrzsUAD

 

Intense, well-written and performed, thought provoking "Paradise Blue" at Karamu

Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage and Tonya Barfield are noted as emerging African American playwrights.  Another member of that sorority is the award-winning Dominique Morisseau, the author of “The Detroit Project,” a 3-Play Cycle which includes “The Skeleton Crew,” “Detroit ’67,” and “Paradise Blue.”  The latter is now on stage at Karamu Theatre.

Called “haunting,” “vibrant,” and "...a juicy and resonant piece of writing, filled to the brim with complex, empathetic characters struggling and infighting as part of a community living under extreme duress,” the script centers on Blue, a gifted trumpeter, who contemplates selling his once-vibrant jazz club in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood to shake free the demons of his past.

Black Bottom was a predominantly black neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. It was famous for its music scene.  African American major blues singers, big bands, and jazz artists, such as Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie, regularly performed in the bars and clubs of neighborhood’s Paradise Valley entertainment district. 

In the early 1960s, the City of Detroit conducted a renewal program to combat what it called "Urban Blight." The program razed the entire Black Bottom district and replaced it with a mixed-income development designed as a model neighborhood combining residential townhouses, apartments and high-rises with commercial areas.

One of the buildings that went the way of regentrification was the Paradise Club, a bar owned by Blue’s father, filled with both good and bad memories.

Questions arise as Blue considers whether to sell the establishment and move to Chicago.    What happens to Pumpkin, his lover and sweet, poetry-quoting woman, who has dreams of her own?  What does it mean for the club’s resident band?  Why has a mysterious woman, with a walk that drives men mad, come to town and renting a room above the bar?

Karamu is a perfect venue in which to experience the musically-infused drama.  The mostly African American audience reacts to the highs and lows, protagonists and antagonist, with emotional verbalizations.  Based on the long tradition of church and meeting hall “call and response,” in which talking and reacting during the service is allowed, even encouraged, spontaneous responses and shouts from attendees ring out. There is no doubt that the audience is into the action!  And the well-directed and talented cast react to the encouragement.

Dyrell Barnett appropriately seethes and lashes out, verbally and physically, as the frustrated Blue.  

Latecia Delores Wilson, she of beautiful face and tender demeanor, is spot-on as Pumpkin, the oft-target of Blue’s physical and verbal torments.  

Handsome Drew Pope creates a realistic P. Sam, a talented drummer, who finds himself frustrated by the lack of opportunities for a young Black man.  

As Corn, a piano player who is also the prop on which Blue depends, Darryl Tatum, shines.  

Multi Cleveland Critics Circle and Brodwayworld.com award winner, Nina Domingue, saunters sexually, speaks with authority, wields a mean gun, and fleshes out a Silver who is both an enigma and a woman to be dealt with.

Scenic designer Richard H. Morris, Jr.’s mult-level set well-fits the action, but seems a little too high-grade and polished for the Black Bottom neighborhood.  Daniel Spearman’s trumpet recording showcases the sounds of a high-quality musician.  India Blatch-Geib has designed era-correct costumes. 

Justin Emeka’s direction keeps the pace intense while building the tension to the shocking conclusion.

Capsule judgment: “Paradise Blue” gets a solid, high quality, thought-inducing, drama and laugh-inducing production.  It’s Karamu at its best!

The play is being presented, from September 26 through October 20, 2019, in the renovated Jelliffe Theater, located in Karamu House, 2355 East 89th Street.  There is a no-fee, guarded, fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre.  For tickets call 216-795-7077 or go to http://www.karamuhouse.org/

Elton John and Tim Rice’s epic AIDA entertains at Karamu

Originally planned to be a Disney animated movie, as a follow-up to Elton John and Tim Rice’s mega-hit, “The Lion King,” the stage musical, ”Aida,” is based on Antonio Ghislanzoni and Giuseppe Verdi’s opera by the same name.  The decision to do the script as a live production, based on its critical and audience success, was seemingly wise.

The musical clocked over 1800 performances during its 4-year Broadway run.  It won four Tony Awards and was named by Time magazine as one of the top ten theatre productions.

Elton John’s score contains a mélange of musical styles including reggae, Motown, gospel, pop and even has some African musical influences.

The story starts in the Egyptian wing of a museum.  A man and woman catch eyes as a statue of Amneris, a female Pharaoh, starts to relate a tale about Ancient Egypt centering on Radames, captain of the Egyptian army who has just returned from a battle with the country’s long time enemy, Nubia.   Unknown to him is that among the Nubians he captured and has brought back to Egypt is Aida, who is the princess of Nubia.  

Radames, of course, falls in love with Aida complicating his father, Chief Minister Zoser’s plans for the death of the Pharaoh via poisoning, having Radames marry Princess Amneris, thus making Radames the next ruler of Egypt.
As in any good musical, the songs tell the tale: “Every Story is a Love Story” and “Fortune Favors the Brave” and “It is Written in the Stars” that the star crossed-lovers will be joined together in eternity, as they are sealed in a tomb together for life-ever after.  

The musical ends, as it began, back in the museum, where the spirit of Amneris reveals that as she became Pharaoh, "the lovers' deaths gave birth to a reign of peace between Egypt and Nubia.  She watches as the modern man and woman are strangely drawn to each other. They are the reincarnations of Aida and Radames, finding each other in a new beginning.

The scenic design by Inda Blatch-Geib works well.  The costume designs are outstanding.  The clothing is made with flair and creativity.   The same, however cannot be said for the musical direction and sound design.  The overly loud orchestra often drowned out the actors and singers.  There were also microphone sound squeals. 

Treva Offutt’s choreography was creative, but, unfortunately, the enthusiastic, but challenged performers, were sometimes out of step.

The vocal and choral sounds were outstanding!

Mary-Francis R. Miller was captivating as Aida.  She has a strong singing voice and did an excellent job of singing meanings, not words, while creating a believable strong princess.

There was a seeming lack of physical connection between Miller and Darrell Hill, who portrayed Radames, as a caricature, rather than a real person.  Their duets, “Enchantment Passing Through,” “Elaborate Lives,” and “Written in the Stars” were excellent.   

Joshua McElroy was character right for Mereb, the Nubian servant to Radames.  Sidney Edwards did a wonderful Valley Girl imitation as Amneris.  She has a strong singing voice, effectively belting “Every Story is a Love Story.”

Capsule judgment: In evaluating productions, it is important that a reviewer take into consideration the venue and the company doing the show.   Karamu’s “Aida” cannot be compared to the Broadway or professional touring company. None of the youngish cast are Equity members.  They range from being seasoned community and educational theater performers to stage newbies.  That taken into consideration, audiences should enjoy themselves with this Tony Sias directed production.

For tickets to “AIDA,” which runs through June 16, 2019 call 216-795-7077 or go to http://www.karamuhouse.org/

Local playwright Eric Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn” entertains and informs at Karamu

Cleveland Height resident Eric Coble is the area’s most prolific and successful contemporary playwright.  His scripts have been produced locally, as well as on- and off -Broadway, and at a significant number of national theaters. 

 Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn” had its Broadway premiere at the Booth Theatre. It starred Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella.  “Fairfield”, “Southern Rapture”, “Bright Ideas”, “The Dead Guy”, “My Barking Dog”, “A Girl’s Guide to Coffee,” and “The Giver” have been produced Off-Broadway.  Not bad for a stay-at-home dad who served on the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education.

To make matters even more interesting, Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado, “playing with rocks, sticks, seeing 1940’s serials at the movie theatre thirty miles away, and wandering the desert with his friends trying to avoid cactus until he was 15 years old.”

He notes that “moving off the reservation led to acting in high school, which led to majoring in English at Fort Lewis College (Colorado) before winging it to Ohio University for an MFA in Acting.”  Along the way “he started writing plays, which were well-received enough to spur him on.”

“The Velocity of Autumn” swirls around “Alexandra, an 80-year-old artist in a showdown with her family over where she’ll spend her remaining years.  In Alexandra’s corner are her wit, her passion, and the fact that she’s barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to take out the block.  But her children have their own secret weapon: estranged son Chris, who returns after 20 years, crawls through Alexandra’s second-floor window and becomes the family’s unlikely mediator.”

The 90-minute one-act play centers on their confrontation, during which long-simmering issues rise to the surface.  It’s a vision of onset senility, the indignities of aging and the realistic intra and interpersonal conflict of what happens when the mind and body start to betray us.  It also confronts the issue of homosexuality and the value of art.

“The Velocity of Autumn” has been produced locally at Beck Center and now is on stage at Karamu.  The Dobama staging featured Dorothy Silver, the grand-dame of CLE theater.  It opened to glowing reviews.  This was not the case in all of the other venues where the story has been told.  One reviewer thought the play “uneasily alternates between jokey, one-liner filled banter and such dark moments which lead to an expected conclusion.”

Maybe it’s 440/216 pride, but I thought the pathos, the humor, the interplay between the mother and the only one of her children whom she really likes, because he is most like her because of his artistic temperament, was realistic.  The ending is obvious, but what did you expect?  This is not a tragedy. The building was not going to explode and this spirited woman was not going to go flaming off into this good night.

The Karamu production features Jeanne Madison as Alexandra, the aging artist, Imani Khiry, as Chris, her son and is directed by Nathan Lilly.

Though not up to the level of the Dobama production, the intent and purpose of the author are adequately developed. 

The lovely Ms. Madison is much too young to be playing an over-eighty-year-old.  In order to add the appearance of aging she often feigned difficulty in walking and getting out of a chair.  In spite of these obvious ploys, her lines were sharp and pointed and the characterization is clear.  Along with Khiry, she will be helped by simply running the play before an audience, as some of the comic timing was off.

Khiry played Christopher on the surface.  It was often difficult to feel the depth of his love for his mother, the real feeling of distress with his siblings and his interpersonal angst, though his lines said those things.

Director Lilly seemingly needed more time and insight into truly developing his actors to undertake this emotionally laden topic-relevant script.

The long, narrow arena theatre was too set-heavy for this sensitive show.  Though well designed and nicely decorated, the space overwhelmed the play.  Performing in a smaller three-quarter round configuration would have helped both the actors and the audience to get closer to the action.

Capsule judgement: “The Velocity of Autumn” gets an acceptable production.  Audiences should leave having both enjoyed themselves and come in contact with the issue of aging and its consequences.
For tickets to “The Velocity of Autumn,” which runs through April 21, 2019 call 216-795-7077 or go to http://www.karamuhouse.org/

History changing “Shuffle Along” to be examined by The Musical Theater Project and Karamu

Musical theater and Broadway have been changed by some specific shows.  Included are “Oklahoma!,” the first book musical, “Hair,” and its strong political/anti-war presence, “Chorus Line,” with its emphasis on dance, and “Rent” and its millennium theme.  Another show, which tends not to be as commonly known, is “Shuffle Along.”

“Shuffle Along” is one of the most significant musicals of the 20th century, since it was entirely written and performed by African Americans and was the first show that allowed black theatergoers to watch from the orchestra after so many years of segregated seating. It is noted for bringing the Harlem Renaissance to the musical stage.  

“Shuffle Along” was written by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissler, a Clevelander who graduated from Central High school in 1960.  He was one of 6 black students at the school. 

The program, “The Impact of Shuffle Along,” the first partnership between Karamu House and The Musical Theater Project, will be hosted by Bill Rudman and Tony F. Sias.  It features Treva Offutt, Justin Woody, Evelyn Wright, the Joe Hunter Trio and George Foley.

Sias, who hails from Jackson, Mississippi, has a graduate degree from Ohio University, and is the President and CEO of Karamu.  He was selected by Cleveland Magazine as one of CLE’s “Most Interesting People of 2016.

He came to “the place of joyful gathering” in 2015 after what he termed, “a great 15-year tenure as the director of arts education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District” and after serving on Karamu’s Strategic Planning Committee.  He signed on with the attitude of “Things needed to happen…the quality of productions, the financial investment in the organization and its programs, and some progressive growth needed to be instituted.”  

Sias, is the product of a creative family, where piano lessons, arts culture, and the civil rights movement were a part of his everyday life.  This background led to his awareness of a need to create “an open, accessible and transparent” organization.  “His staff,” he states, “is lean and mean.”  When hiring he insisted that “they not only had content expertise to an arts discipline, but a good track record of leadership.”

How did the collaboration between TMTP and Karamu come about?  Sias relates that “Bill Rudman and I have worked on projects together. Bill asked if Karamu could partner and I could co-host.   I thought that Bill’s brain-child and the timing were right.”  

Tony’s interest in “Shuffle Along” comes from the awareness that the show “was a turning point of American theatre, helping Broadway redesign itself.”  “It is a seminal piece, has historical relevance and great ragtime and jazz music.  

Sias, who has a strong theater and music background, is looking forward to not only telling the tale, but in singing the show’s score, which includes such classics as “I’m Simply Full of Jazz,” “Love Will Find a Way,” “I’m Just Wild About Harry, “Everything Reminds Me of You,” and “The African Dip.”

“The Impact of Shuffle Along” brings two unique organizations together, each with different demographics to heighten the CLE community’s awareness of an important musical, “telling a story of then and today.”

The concerts will be staged on Thursday, February 7, 2019, Friday, February 8, 2019  and Saturday, February 9, 2019 @ 8:00 PM, and Sunday, February 10, 2019@ 3:00 PM at the newly renovated Jelliffe Theater located at Karamu House, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For tickets, which cost $30, call 216-795-7077 or go to http://www.karamuhouse.org/

Karamu’s “Day of Absence” loses its message due to misdirection

 

Karamu’s “Day of Absence” loses its message due to misdirection 
 
Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

As Douglas Turner Ward, the author of “Day of Absence,” explains it, “The time is now. The play opens in an unnamed Southern town of medium population on a somnolent cracker morning — meaning no matter the early temperature, it’s gonna get hot. The hamlet is just beginning to rouse itself from the sleepy lassitude of night.”

What follows is the revelation that all the black people in this imaginary Southern town have suddenly disappeared.

Ward continues, “The only ones left are sick and lying in hospital beds, refusing to get well. Infants are crying because they are being tended to by strange parents. The Mayor pleads for the President, Governor, and the NAACP to send him "a jackpot of jigaboos." On a nationwide radio network, he calls on the blacks, wherever they are, to come back. He shows them the cloths with which they wash cars and the brushes with which they shine shoes as sentimental reminders of the goodies that await them. In the end the blacks begin to reappear, as mysteriously as they had vanished, and the white community, sobered by what has transpired, breathes a sigh of relief at the return of the rather uneasy status quo. What will happen next is left unsaid, but the suggestion is strong that things will never quite be the same again.”

The play, when if applied to today, would be a Trump nightmare.  Yes, though Trump rages against minorities, how would he operate his hotels and resorts if all those people he hates and wants to expel, or not let into the country, disappeared?  Would Donald, Jr. be cutting the lawns at the golf courses?  Would Ivanka be changing the hotel’s bed linens?  Would son-in-law Jared be caddying? 

Yes, this is a play which not only targets Southern bigots and other nationalists, who use the services of minorities while condemning them, but also points to the reality of what would happen without the slave and low-paying members of the minority “working class.”

In talking about how the play should be produced, Ward states, “No scenery is necessary — only actors shifting in and out on an almost bare stage and freezing into immobility as focuses change or blackouts occur.  The play is conceived for performance by a Negro cast, a reverse minstrel show done in white-face. Logically, it might also be performed by whites — at their own risk. If any producer is faced with choosing between opposite hues, the author strongly suggests: “Go ’long wit’ the blacks — besides all else, they need the work more.  All props, except essential items (chairs, brooms, rags, mop, debris) should be imaginary (phones, switchboard, mikes, eating utensils, food, etc.).”

Not only did Karamu director Nathan A. Lilly ignore Ward’s advice on scenery and props but he failed to heed that the actors are “cautioned not to ham it up too broadly. It just might be more effective if they aspire for serious tragedy”

Lilly has played for laughs, ignoring that the play is a satirical farce.  In good farce, such as productions of such classics as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” actors play it straight. The audience should not be laughing at the ridiculousness of the performers as they overact and do slapstick, they should be laughing at the outrageousness of the situation and lines.  Otherwise, the message is lost. 

The cast tries hard. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, their efforts are lost as they look foolish due to “over-acting.”  The exceptions are a marvelous monologue, near the end of the play, presented by Robert Hunter, the mayor.  By playing it straight, Ward’s message rings clear.  The same could be said for Sherrie Tolliver, in her role as the TV announcer.

Capsule judgment: “Day of Absence” is a well-written play whose message rings loud and clear today in the era of “Make America White Again.”  Too bad some of the message is lost due to an emphasis on over-done acting rather than letting the farcical writing carry the day.
“Day of Absence” continues through, November 18, 2018 in the Arena Theatre at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

Finely built “Fences” @ Karamu




August Wilson is considered one of the most prolific sources for documenting the twentieth century African-American experience.  His ten-play cycle, basically set in Pittsburgh’s Hill district, started with “Gem of the Ocean,” representing the 1900s and ended with “Radio Golf,” shining the spotlight on the 1990s.  “Fences,” which is now on stage at the newly renovated Jelliffe Theatre at Karamu, was the 1950s representative.

Like all of the "Pittsburgh" plays, “Fences” explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for its picture of damages to Black manhood as well as the conflicts which arise between family members based on the way they see the past and what they want to do with their future as well as the coping methods used to survive from being caught up in a cycle of stagnation.

Troy is a 53-year old a hard drinker, former convict, and one-time player in the Negro Baseball League.  He never got to play in the Major Leagues because of the color barrier.  He ekes out a living in a low paying barrel-lifter job because his race restricts his rise through the work ranks.  Finally, as a symbol, he becomes the Jackie Robinson of the company when he becomes the first black truck driver. 

Troy lives in his own home, with his wife Rose and son Cory.   His brother Gabriel is a former soldier who was injured in the war and suffers from psychological damage.  He lives in a rented room, but spends much time at Troy and Rose’s home. Troy also has a son, Lyons, the product of an earlier marriage, who is a some-time musician who weekly borrows money from Troy, and is a recipient of his father’s verbal abuse.

Troy and his work buddy, Bono, spend lots of time drinking and talking. 

As the story evolves, infidelity, conflicts between the rigid Troy and frustrated Cory, the birth of a baby, a conflict between Rose and Troy, Cory’s leaving home, and death become a part of the fabric of the family.  

The major allegory in the plot is a fence.  A physical barrier, built over many years, defines Troy’s property.  In addition, in a telling speech, Troy fantasizes that death, in the form of the Grim Reaper is coming, and the fence is his defense against his demise.  Troy also builds a psychological fence, cutting himself off from his sons. 

The philosophical base of the play comes from such prophetic lines as such as, “What law says I have to like you?” “A man has a duty to take care of his family.”  “I planted myself inside you.” “You got to take the crooked with the straight.”

Karamu’s production, under the astute direction of the organization’s President and CEO, Tony Sias, is compelling.

The acting is top notch.  Darryl Tatum creates reality with his smoldering portrayal of Troy.  This is a flawed man who creates angst for others through his rigid and self-protective view of life.  Colleen Longshaw inhabits the role of Rose, clearly showcasing the strength and level-headedness of the woman.

Dyrell Barnett (Lyons) and Dar’Jon M. Bentley (Cory) give strong performances as the put-upon sons.

Prophet D. Seay, steals the show with his accurate portrayal of the physical and emotionally wounded Gabriel.

Peter Lawson Jones carries the weight of the world on his shoulders as Bono, a man stuck in a quicksand-life.

Young Logan Dior Williams was delightful as Raynell.

Capsule judgment:  As is the case in all of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle plays, “Fences” is both a revealing history lesson and a snapshot of the black experience in this country.  It is a well-performed, important play, which deserves attendance by not only African American but also white audiences.  

“Fences” continues through October 21, 2018 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

Next up at Karamu is Douglas Turner Ward’s “Day of Absence” on stage from October 25 through November 18, 2018.

Homecoming, renovations and “Letters from Zora” @ Karamu

In September of 2015, when Tony F. Sias was appointed as President and CEO of Karamu, the country’s oldest African-American theatre, the organization was at its lowest point.  In financial trouble, having slipped in the quality of its arts programs and seemingly rudderless, the future looked bleak.

Now, three years later, the organization, which was founded in 1915 by two white Oberlin College grads, Russell and Rowena Jelliffe, has revitalized its theater offerings, finished a construction project which renovated the 200-seat Jelliffe Theatre, and has plans to renovate their Arena theatre, add a restaurant and an outdoor patio, redo the lobby and other parts of the facility and add a gift shop and retail space.  The once bleak future now looks bright.

Sias states, “The Jelliffe renovation maintains the traditional proscenium layout with a permanent apron [minimal thrust], but now includes an orchestra pit stage left that can also be used for additional seating.”  The auditorium has been heavily raked, making sight lines excellent.  There are new seats and the entire area has a warm and comfortable.

The opening coincided with the induction of “National Living Legend” Vanessa Bell Calloway into the 2018 Karamu Hall of Fame and the regional premiere of her award-winning one-woman show, “Letters from Zora.” 

Calloway, who has earned eight NAACP Image Awards for her role as Zora Neale Hurston, has been seen in such films as “South Side With You,” “Coming to America,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and “The Inkwell.”   She is currently starring in Bounce TV’s “Saints and Sinners.”  She has also been seen in numerous stage productions.

Calloway says, “I’m so very proud of my Karamu roots!  This playhouse was the beginning of my career and it taught me so much about the Arts.  I am delighted to return home.”

“Letters from Zora,” a two-act one-woman show, presented without intermission, was written by Gabrielle Denise Pina and directed by Dashiell Sparks.

The story is based on letters written by prolific novelist Zora Neale Hurston, a self-proclaimed “early cougar.”  Her correspondences have been fused with a fictional narrative which illuminates the highs and lows of Zora’s life, her years as a literary giant who offered a new creative expression in the arts to deeply influence culture, and her contributions to the American literary canon.

The actions are supported by a soundtrack which, by incorporating the musical styles of Hurston’s life, including blues guitar and harmonica sounds, creates the moods of the deep south as well as the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance and Zora’s role in one of the highlight times for Black arts in America.

Though a little long, the story teaches a history lesson to those unaware of the complexity of the life of the Negro in the south during the late 19th and early to mid-twentieth century.
Ms. Calloway’s performance is a tour de force.  Alone on stage for almost an hour-and-a half, she weaves the tale with sass, power, inflection, and a compelling presence. 

Capsule judgment:  Karamu enters mid-2018 with a bright future.  Considering that only a few years ago it was rumored that the nationally important African American institution was on death’s doorstep, this is an amazing success story.  Their recent Homecoming celebration is a welcome sign that there is much to come from “the joyful gathering place.”

“Letters From Zora” continues through, June 24, 2018 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

"Passing Strange," a Black youth's search for self-identity, rocks Karamu

“Passing Strange,” a Black youth’s search for self-identity, rocks Karamu 
 
Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)
 
Mark Stewart, better known as “Stew,” is noted for being a member of the band, The Negro Problem.  He is also the author of the book and lyrics for “Passing Strange,” a semi-autobiographical musical, co-written with Heidi Rodewald in collaboration with Annie Dorsen.  The script is presently rocking Karamu.

“Passing Strange” opened on Broadway to positive reviews and was a serious contender for the 2008 Tony Award.  (It lost to Lynn Manuel Miranda’s “In The Heights.”)  Unfortunately, it never caught on with Broadway audiences and ran a disappointing 165 performances. 

Maybe it was “too loud,” or not about a subject identifiable with the white and older Broadway audience, or was ahead of its time, or is a small show that needed to be in an intimate theatre.  Whatever, it just didn’t get the traction it needed to have a long run.

 “Passing Strange” is based, in-the-main, on Stew’s experiences as a young musician traveling through Europe in the 1980s.  When the show opened on Broadway, Stew played the Narrator, an older version of himself, reflecting on his youthful angst, family rebellion, drug use, sexual exploration and spiritual awakening.

Classified as a comedy-dark rock musical, it examines a young African American’s journey of self-discovery both in the U.S. and Europe.  It is filled with self-reflection, a probing to find out why he exists, child-mother angst and an examination of the Black community’s attitude about members of their community who are not “black enough.”

Stew summarized the story and the music when he wrote, "It's ... about the costs of being a young artist. It's a 46-year-old guy looking back at the things that he did and the values he had in his 20s, sort of when you're making that decision to really be an artist ... We knew we were going to invent something 'cause we kind of knew this hadn't been done before, the goal being to bring the actual music that one hears in a club to the stage — not through some kind of theatrical musical-theater filter."
Some may remember “Passing Strange” from Spike Lee’s film which premiered in 2009.

This was Stew’s first foray in playwriting, and it shows.  The story is not totally developed and the writing, especially the dialogue, is not always well-conceived. It has a disconcerting looseness which envelops a number of memorable songs.

Karamu is a perfect venue for the show.  The audience is mainly African American.  Since the story is about a black youth who isn’t “black enough,” there is more chance of the ticket buyers to identify with him than was the case on Broadway. 

Karamu’s Arena stage, a small theatre with no seat more than 15-feet from the action, is a perfect stage size and configuration for “Passing Strange.”

The Karamu production, with adept directing by Nathan A. Lilly, is excellent.  The music includes such well-conceived songs as “Sole Brother,” “Amsterdam,” “Keys,” “We Just Had Sex,” “Identity,” “The Black One,” “Come Down Now,” and “Love Like That” rocks.  The lyric interpretations are generally meaningful.

The cast is universally strong.  Darius J. Stubbs nicely takes us on the journey as the narrator.  He has a fine singing voice and good acting chops.

Justin C. Woody wraps himself into Youth.  He professes to have a skill in painting.  If his art work parallels his singing, acting and dancing, he immediately deserves a public display.

Treva Ofutt is totally believable as Youth’s mother.  Carlos Antonio Cruz is strong in multi-roles as is Joshua McElroy, and Mary-Francis R. Miller.  CorLesia Smith provides strong vocal backup and solos.  

Ed Ridley, Jr.’s band (Elijah Gilmore, Kevin Byous, Bradford L. McGhee and Chantrell Lewis) not only effectively backs up the singers, but does justice to some complicated arrangements which include gospel, punk, blues, jazz, as well as rock.

Kenya R. Woods’s creative choreography molds the production together.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: After an overly long first act, the show shifts into high gear and wraps up with a strong final act.  The Karamu cast is excellent.   
 
 
“Passing Strange” continues through June 3, 2018 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

Next up at Karamu House:  The Jelliffe Theatre Grand Reopening on Saturday June 9.  Featuring a gala, Hall of Fame Induction and an after party; a family-friendly production of “Homecoming Celebration” on June 10 from 1-4; and Vanesa Bell Calloway starring in “Letters From Zora,” from June 14-24.

“The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God,” misses its mark @ Karamu


 


George Bernard Shaw’s views on religion may be summarized by his statement, “People believe anything that amuses them, gratifies them, or promises some sort of profit.”  



He showcased his anti-organized religion and doubt of God in his “The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God,” a novella he wrote after returning from five weeks in Africa in the winter of 1932.  He imagined a young black girl roaming the “darkest of Africa” in search of God.  

His story was adapted for the stage by African-American writer, Lisa Codrington. 

A staging of Codrington’s script is now on stage at Karamu.

 “The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God” tells the tale of an African girl who has been abandoned by her missionary for asking too many question about God, religion and philosophy that the church proselytizer couldn’t answer.   

Left on her own, The Black Girl sets out on her own mission to find God, since she has been taught, “Seek and you shall find me,” which she takes to mean, “seek out and actually speak to God.”

 
In the Shaw essay the Black Girl meets a vengeful deity of the early books of the Bible, a philosophical version as exposed in the “Book of Job,” and two versions of Jesus…a kindly but ineffective young man and another posing as an artist who is depicting Christ on the cross. 

Eventually we, like the Black Girl, come to the conclusion that, “There are a lot of old men pretending to be gods in this forest [the world].”


She also meets an atheist-behaviorist, and others who explain that the speculations about God are passé.  She finally is confronted by an elderly man who persuades her to abandon her quest and settle down “with a red-haired Irishman and rear a charmingly coffee-colored family.”  (Note:  at one point in his writing career, Shaw started a general furor by proposing intermarriage between blacks and whites as a solution to racial problems in South Africa.)



My evaluation of the Shaw production of the script was, “staging is illuminating, delightful and the standing ovation was well deserved.”

I wish I could say the same for the Karamu production; but, I can’t. 

Shaw calls the play a comedy with satirical overtones.   Unfortunately, in spite of a strong performance by India Pierre-Ingram as the Black Girl, the Karamu production misses the mark.  

Presented as a farce with slapstick, double takes, and overdone characterizations running wild, Shaw’s messages get lost in the mayhem.  In spite of the over the top screaming, over-acting and begging for laughs, few guffaws were heard.

The director and cast had another issue to contend with at the “joyful gathering place.”  When Shaw published “Black Girl” in 1932, it was so controversial that, probably much to his delight, he was decried as a “blasphemer.”

The Shaw Festival audience, many of whom were religiously liberal Canadians, took the Irishman’s satire as such.  However, the Karamu audience, many of whom are devout Christians, were not amused by the overdrawn depictions of the men of the “Bible,” the simpering Jesus’s, and the mindless prophets. 

An elderly woman, sitting diagonal to me, had a stressed look on her face from the start of the second scene on.  At the end there was no applause from her, and she reached out and took my hand as I went to exit and said, “God is not happy!”  The show was definitely not an appropriate happy 90 th birthday present for her! 

From the exit conversations, unfortunately, she was not alone in her dislike of the subject matter.



Capsule judgment:  The commentary, “The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God,” as evidenced at the Shaw Festival, can be a compelling hour production.   Unfortunately, in spite of a valiant effort, this isn’t the case at Karamu.

“The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God” continues through April 15, 2018 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

“Sassy Mamas” -- laughs, laughs and more laughs @ Karamu

Sometimes theater is high drama.  At other times it’s for learning about history or philosophy.  “Sassy Mamas,” now on stage at Karamu, is on stage for one purpose only…to create outlandish laughter.  

If you are lucky enough to get a ticket to “Sassy Mamas,” yes, “lucky enough” because even though the show just opened, ducats are tough to obtain, you are in for a great time.

A sold-out house, mainly populated by African American women “of a certain age,” found much to entertain them.  From the first laugh, which hit about two lines into the show, until the screaming standing ovation ending, the ladies and the cast were part of a love/laugh in.

Celeste Bedford Walker’s script centers on three successful single friends who decide that, “why should males have all the fun.”

The trio are Jo Billie, a widow trying to break out of the doldrums after her husband, the love of her life, died; Wilhemina, a member of the President’s cabinet and a confirmed “single” (think Condoleezza Rice); and a divorcee, Mary, who was blind-sided by her husband leaving her for a younger woman.  Each is attractive and financially comfortable. 

They decide that maybe the “cougar” life might not be so bad.

Multi-award winning playwright, Celeste Bedford Walker, knows women, especially African American women.  She creates characters who are believable, not stereotypes, have emotional depth, and whom we love from start to finish.

Kimbely Sias is character-perfect as Jo Billie who covers up her grieving with wisecracks and sensuous moves.  Jeanne Madison nicely creates Wilhemina as a self-conceived ice cube who purportedly doesn’t need or want a man in her life.  Mary, Rebecca Morris’s alter-ego, is an up-tight-woman who has turned to HGTV buying as an emotional outlet for her reaction to her husband’s abandonment. 

These are three wonderful actresses who have a wonderful time playing wonderfully-written roles.

Walker matches each woman with a different kind of guy, adding to the fun.  

Jo Billie’s hunk of choice is LaDonte, with a body covered with tattoos, thrusting hips that make Elvis’s moves amateur by comparison, and is totally without scruples.  He’s perfect for a-renta-toy to use and throw away when he’s no longer needed.  The totally uninhibited Cameron Woods plays “sexy, sexy” with ease.  One of the audience of uninhibited audience-ladies wished out loud that she had a dollar to shove into his tight fitting jeans.  

Classy Wilhemina gets involved with Wes, a journalist assigned to do a story on her, who turns out to be charming, tall, dark and handsome.  When Michael Head, who plays Wes, appeared on stage shirtless, a steamed up woman sitting behind me bellowed, “That is one hunky piece of guy man,” to the delight of her high-fiving “gal” friends.

Up-tight Mary lights upon Colby, a gardener who has come to help her groom her African greenhouse garden.  Very young Bryon Tobin turned on the “mommy instincts” of the ladies in the audience, one of whom moaned, “That is one damn pretty child,” with the word pretty divided into five syllables, with the first held for a five count, followed by a “u-hmm.”

Yes, the audience was having fun!  (At times it was as much fun listening to the audience as the actors.)

Not only does Walker know her characters and her audience, and Karamu’s sassy mammas know how to ply their acting trade, but director Tony Sias knows how to pace a comedy, build hysteria through double takes and extended pauses, and tickle the audience’s funny bones.

Costumer Inda Blatch-Geib creates a fashion show of high fashion, African designed patterns, and marvelous hats.  Her set design of three different rooms also carries out her strong aesthetic talents.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Karamu’s “Sassy Mamas” has the right balance of laughs, pathos, visual excitement and empathy to delight.  It’s a fluffy romantic comedy that fully satisfies!  Huzzahs!
“Sassy Mamas” continues through March 4, 2018 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.