Karamu Houses five-show 2023-24 season to kick off with Lynn Nottages Clydes
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Karamu is a Swahili expression meaning “places of entertainment or fasting at the center of community.” The Jelliffes realized that the United States was not keeping its promise of the Constitution by not helping minorities. The Jelliffes believed that people of color should have ways of expressing their basic cultural talents. Originally, Karamu opened at 2239 East 38th Street through the Neighborhood Association in 1915. After the fire burned Karamu House down in 1939, it was rebuilt in 1949 at East 89th and Quincy, where it remains to this day.
Karamu Arts Classes
Karamu House Receives $4 Million Challenge Grant From Mandel Foundation - Cleveland Scene
Karamu House Receives $4 Million Challenge Grant From Mandel Foundation.
Posted: Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
A place where people of diverse backgrounds could come together to master their craft, and train using the arts as a vehicle for social change and personal growth. The poet, writer and playwright wrote his first play at Karamu – “The Golden Piece” in 1921 – and went on to write and debut several other works on its stage, including a show commissioned by Karamu in 1961. If you are interested in financial assistance or a scholarship, please notify with your student’s full name and program. Students who have been a part of the program for at least 3 sessions with exceptional attendance and behavior are prioritized for our merit scholarships, this is separate from the financial aid process. Founders Stanley E. Williams and Quentin Easter opened the theatre as a way to create opportunities for Black creatives and performers.
Mission
Reflecting the strength of the Black influence on its development, the Playhouse Settlement was officially renamed Karamu House in 1941. Karamu is a word in the Swahili language meaning “a place of joyful gathering.” It became a place where families could gather, share stories, feast, and enjoy. It’s been approximately 14 years since I last directed a play by my brother and friend Michael Oatman. In It Happened in Atlanta by Michael Oatman, we get to explore the different ways that “Black Love” tries to find its way in the world.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Hughes – one of the most popular writers of the 20th century -- grew up in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland and taught art classes at Karamu while attending Central High School. Recognized as the oldest African-American performing arts institution in the United States, it has served as an incubator for some of the country’s best-known Black artists since it first opened its doors in 1917. From October 2003 to March 2016, Terrence Spivey served as Karamu's artistic director.[17] Tony F. Sias currently serves as CEO + President, Aseelah Shareef serves as COO + Vice President. It’s the most awesome place in the world and black community in Cleveland, lot’s of stars come from here, Ruby Dee is one of the persons, she even met her husband there whom also is famous…Ossie Davis.
History
This drama concerned itself about labor fights on the New Orleans wharves and contained ten tension-filled scenes that dealt with the amalgamation of Black and white people to prevent a lynching. Some audience members found the play profound, while others were astonished and emotionally outraged. Stevedore is a further example of the theme of Black people fighting the injustice they experienced, and this is expressed through Black American art. The arts are a proven economic engine for development and inclusive job opportunities. That’s why Cleveland Clinic, Karamu House and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation (FRDC) have partnered in projects along Quincy Avenue and the Opportunity Corridor.Karamu has been an arts anchor for the Fairfax neighborhood since its inception.
Karamu House, America’s oldest African-American theater in Cleveland, undergoing $14.5M renovation
Karamu has given African Americans a vehicle for the expression of their work. Moreover, their theatrical productions have raised awareness of black lives, the black experience, and an awareness of black heritage. Although racial themes were addressed In Abraham’s Bosom and Stevedore, perhaps no theatrical productions at Karamu in the interwar years outshone Langston Hughes. Hughes was a poet, actor, and playwright, who was born in Joplin, Missouri, but also lived in Cleveland and New York during the era of the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the most talented playwrights of his time and was significant in the evolution of Karamu as a theater and a force for social change.
African Grove Theatre - New York City, New York
Known as the last remaining theatre in Los Angeles dedicated to the Black community, the Lincoln Theatre began its legacy in 1927 with live performances, movie screenings, and vaudeville for 2,100 patrons. It was often revered as the “West Coast Apollo” after Harlem’s Apollo Theater, with the two often hosting the same or similar acts. The renowned Apollo Theater did not start off as a creative space for Black Americans. First owned by Sidney Cohen and then obtained by Benjamin Hurtig and Harry Seamon in 1914, the theatre was originally home to burlesque shows under the name Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater. Similar to many public and private spaces in America, Black people were denied entry to the theatre. To celebrate the theatres that paved the way for Black creatives, Playbill shares the history of some of the country’s iconic Black theatres that contributed towards propelling diverse and equitable storytelling to the forefront.
- Cleveland
KARAMU HOUSE is a neighborhood settlement that became nationally known for its dedication to interracial theater and the arts. 38th St. in 1915 by 2 young white social workers, ROWENA and RUSSELL JELLIFFE, with the support of the Second Presbyterian Church, but it soon was popularly known as the Playhouse Settlement. As an entry into community life, the Jelliffes began producing plays with interracial casts in 1917. Their affiliation with the church ended in 1919, when they incorporated as the Neighborhood Assn.
Karamu House, the nation’s oldest Black theater, surges forward in spite of ‘a rough few years’
Tucked away in the Fairfax neighborhood just east of Downtown Cleveland and near the Cleveland Clinic is one of Cleveland’s historic cultural institutions, Karamu House and Theatre. It’s known as the oldest Black theatre company in the U.S. and has been an incubator for some of the country's most well-known Black artists since its opening in 1917. Perhaps most notably, playwright and poet Langston Hughes saw a number of his plays debut here.
“We want Karamu to [continue to] be a social hub, a gathering place for our increasingly diverse audiences from across the region,” says Shareef. This weekend, the theater will premiere a production of “Red Summer.” Conceived by Sias and written by Cleveland playwright Nina Domingue, the play examines the hardships and racial terror faced by African Americans during a summer of racial violence in 1919. “We used theater as a vehicle -- not only to entertain audiences but to educate audiences about the Black experience -- and to activate our audiences toward change,” Sias said. “Theater was a means to an end, people were learning in, and through, the arts as a result of the work we were doing in the virtual space.
Playhouse Square and Karamu House Theatre announce new partnership in Cleveland - WKYC.com
Playhouse Square and Karamu House Theatre announce new partnership in Cleveland.
Posted: Sat, 27 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Karamu house remains a community-based non-profit arts and education institution and has continued to keep history alive with its commitment to preserve Black culture. The company was best known for its performances of Shakespearean classics, ballets, comedies, and original work by Brown (The Drama of King Shotaway). It was eventually shut down by city officials after rival companies orchestrated disturbances of productions in an effort to harass and sabotage the African Grove's success. Theatre and performance is a cathartic escape for everyone, but Black Americans were not always included fairly in that vision. Since the early 19th century, Black people were impersonated by white performers on stage through racist stereotypes in vaudeville and minstrel shows, creating offensive caricatures of Black people using blackface for the enjoyment of white audiences. Karamu’s story begins with Russell and Rowena Jelliffe, who founded what was originally called the Neighborhood Association but was later named Karamu House.
Founded in 1915 by two white social workers, Russell and Rowena Jelliffe, it opened as a settlement house, named the Neighborhood Assn., on E. 38th St., in an area then known as Cleveland’s “Roaring Third” -- home to bars, brothels, flophouses and gambling dens. Karamu in Swahili means “a place for joyful meeting,” a name that has been effortlessly embodied in the work of the theatre. However, as Black performers began to take the stage, many challenged these stereotypes by creating unique performances that displayed their own authentic talents, taking hold of their own stories within performance spaces that honored their experiences. However, with the rallying support of the Cleveland community and notable funders—and under the leadership of Tony F. Sias, President + CEO—Karamu House is experiencing its own renaissance of sorts. The Neighborhood Association, or Playhouse Settlement as it was also known, developed as part of a broader movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, which occurred in the 1920s as African Americans came north for better opportunities.
With the rise of Black Nationalism in the 1970s, the theatre decided to focus its storytelling around the Black experience in America. It was later unsuccessful in its attempt to become a professional acting company. The cultural beacon of Black theatre, the African Grove Theatre’s opening in 1821 birthed a space of creative refuge in the midst of slavery and systemic oppression. The New York City theatre, founded by West Indies native and playwright William Alexander Brown, opened six years before the final abolition of slavery in New York State and is considered the first Black theatre in the United States. The Playhouse Settlement quickly became a magnet for some of the best African-American artists of the day.
The war years were hard on Karamu, but in the 1950s with the direction of Benno Frank and Reuben Silver, it became known as one of the finest amateur groups in the country. This demonstrates that despite terrible adversity, people can unite and be a force for social change and promote interracial art. The Jelliffes wanted to create an environment where people of different races, religions and socio-economic backgrounds could come together to find common ground through the arts.
Following a fire which destroyed the theater in 1939, Karamu was eventually rebuilt in 1949, through the aid of LEONARD HANNA, JR., and the Rockefeller Foundation as a 2-theater complex at E. Facilities were also provided for Karamu's noteworthy programs and classes in dancing and the visual arts. Led in the 1950s by such professional staff members as Benno Frank and Reuben Silver, Karamu gained a reputation as one of the best amateur groups in the country. With the rise of Black Nationalism in the 1970s, however, it embarked upon a controversial course which promoted theatrical presentations primarily by blacks about the black experience and its attempt to form a professional acting company in 1982 proved unsuccessful. In 1980 Marjorie Witt Johnson, together with Karamu artistic director Linda Thomas Jones, founded the Imani African American Dance Co., a troupe which danced to African drum beats, reminiscent of the original Karamu Dancers. Today, karamu’s mission is to produce professional theatre, provide arts education, and present programs for all people while honoring the african american experience.
The pair rebranded the venue to focus on variety shows and wanted to reach the growing Black community in Harlem. From New York City's Apollo Theater to Los Angeles' Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, celebrate a few of the spaces across the country that fostered Black art and culture in the midst of adversity. "It’s like opening a new present every day. We really never know what we’re going to get. It’s exciting to continue to learn for our own personal knowledge history that happened in our backyard, " expressed Churby Llanos. The theater is undergoing a $14.5 million renovation that includes a brand new streetscape, a full-service bistro, along with a patio and enclosed outdoor performance stage, in addition to major renovations in the arena theater, lobby, and dressing rooms. Established in 1915, Karamu House is the oldest Black producing theater in the United States.
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