[NEohioPAL] Karamu and Dobama present joint Season Opening Production

[Vivian C. Wilson]

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Joyce Casey
Contact:  Vivian Wilson

jcasey at dobama.org
vwilson at karamu.com

 

 

Dobama & Karamu Performing Arts Center, Karamu House Present

The Ohio Premiere of 


Caroline, or Change


Book & Lyrics by Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Tony Kushner

Music by Jeanine Tesori

September 17- October 12, 2008

Jelliffe Theatre at Karamu House Performing Arts Theatre

2355 E. 89th Street

 

Directed by Sarah May, Musical Director Ed Ridley

 

Race, passion, and civil rights are at the heart of this acclaimed, deeply
personal story by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner who was
partially raised by a black housekeeper around the busy schedule of his
parents, both professional musicians.  The play is inspired by a childhood
incident, and is set in Mr. Kushner's hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

 

Caroline, or Change begins in the final months of 1963, a painful turbulent
year as witnessed by the assassination of President Kennedy, the Birmingham
church bombing, Martin Luther King's March on Washington, and the Viet Nam
War.    

 

Caroline Thibodeaux, a 39-year-old African American divorcee with four
children barely survives as a $30 a week domestic for the Gellman family.
Their 8-year-old son, Noah Gelman, who has recently suffered the loss of his
mother and the arrival of a stepmother, idolizes her.  Noah spends
considerable time in Caroline's basement domain equating Caroline's
importance and strength with that of the president of the United States.
Although this tentative and touching relationship is shattered over loose
change, Caroline, or Change is imbued with the confidence that change is
possible; people are capable of working toward reconciliation and mutual
respect.  

 

Caroline, or Change is a remarkable piece of theatre in its coalescence of
human struggle, passionate exploration of today's critical issues and an
exhilarating mixture of classical, R & B, Motown, Klezmer, and Negro
spiritual music. 

 

Producing a landmark Kushner play with our friends at Karamu Theatre brings
together two of my fondest memories during my years at Dobama Theatre.
During the 1990's Karamu and Dobama shared a rich collaborative history
bringing Cleveland audiences blazing productions of The Grapes of Wrath; My
Children, My Africa; Distant Fires; Playland; and Fires in the Mirror.  We
staged the first "forced theatrical busing" when, during the intermission of
4 performances of My Children, My Africa, we bused

audience members, via double decker buses, to the other theatre for Act II.
(Joyce Casey, Artistic Director, Dobama Theatre)

 

What better way for us to open our season in partnering with Dobama on such
an important story that resonates today.  Joyce Casey approached me three
years ago 
with deep passion about this profound piece of theatre, and we made it
happen  .It definitely fits within our mission here.  This collaboration
also brings director Sarah May back home to what maybe one of the theatre
events of the season. (Terrence Spivey, Artistic Director, Karamu Theatre)  

 

Caroline will be played by local Equity actress Sheffia Randall Dooley who
starred in Once on This Island, Anything Goes, & Purlie at Cain Park.   She
has performed in Great Lakes Theatre Festival productions of The Tempest,
Blithe Spirit, and Nickel and Dimed, a joint production with CPT.    She was
also seen in Cleveland Public Theater's regional premiere of Pulp as Bing
and in Our Town as Mrs. Webb.  Ms. Dooley can also be seen on the nationally
syndicated children's television program Ask Gilby.

 

The complete cast of Caroline, or Change includes Colleen Longshaw (Dotty)
recently seen in Cain Park's production of The Wiz, Ayeshah Douglas, Katrice
Headd, Stacey Wallace, Taresa Willingham, Darryl Lewis, Christian Flaherty,
Hester Lewellen, Robert McCoy, Katherine DeBoer, Ron Cuirle,  Kai LaShawn,
Alexis Floyd, Aric Floyd and Justin Peck and Michael Rogan.

 

Well-known local director, Sarah May, will direct Caroline, or Change.  Her
past Karamu shows include Mulebone, A Soldiers Play, Oak and Ivy, Voodoo
Macbeth, and The Me Nobody Knows. During the 1990's she had the honor of
directing acclaimed Dobama/Karamu co-productions The Grapes of Wrath, Fires
in the Mirror, and Athol Fugard's Playland and My Children! My Africa!


 

Sarah spent 10 years in New York City performing, directing, and developing
educational programs for Playwrights Horizons, Henry Street Settlement, and
Roundabout Theatre.  In Cleveland she has served as Director of Education
for Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Artistic Director of Karamu Theatre, and
as guest director for most area theatres.

            

Sarah has been nominated for the Northern Ohio Live Award of Achievement in
Theatre on six occasions, and won in 2001 for her Beck Center production of
A Piece of My Heart.  The Scene Magazine awarded her production of Six
Degrees of Separation the "Best Theatre Production" of 2003, and The Diary
of Anne Frank at Beck Center the "Best Theatre Production of 2006." 

 

Ed Ridley is the Music Director for Caroline, or Change.  Ed's recent
productions include Love Janis, Five Guys Named Moe, Crowns, The Piano
Lesson, Daughter of a Buffalo Soldier, and Tony & Tina's Wedding.  He serves
as Music Director for the Christian Fellowship Center Church; and as a music
faculty member of CCC. Ed has Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Walter Hawkins,
Jon Hendricks, and Clark Terry.

 

Caroline, or Change is produced with the support of the John P. Murphy
Foundation.  

Dobama & Karamu Theaters receive support from the George Gund Foundation,
the Ohio Arts Council, CAC and the Cleveland Foundation.

 

 

Performance Schedule for Caroline, or Change

 

All Performances at Karamu House, Performing Arts Center, 2355 E. 89th
Street

 

Wednesday, September 17     7:30 pm - Preview Performance

Thursday, September 18         7:30 pm - Preview Performance

Friday, September 19              8:00 pm - Opening Night followed by
Reception

Saturday, September 20          8:00 pm 

Sunday, September 21            3:00 pm

 

Thursday, September 25         7:30 pm

Friday, September 26              8:00 pm

Saturday, September 27          8:00 pm - Sold Out Performance

Sunday, September 28            3:00 pm

 

Thursday, October 2               7:30 pm

Friday, October 3                    8:00 pm

Saturday, October 4                8:00 pm           

Sunday, October 5                  3:00 pm

 

Thursday, October 9               7:30 pm

Friday, October 10                  8:00 pm

Saturday, October 11              8:00 pm

Sunday, October 12                3:00 pm

 


Ticket Prices


Regular Admission


 

Preview Performances            $10.

Fridays & Saturdays               $27

Thursday & Sundays              $22

 


Students & Seniors


 

Fridays & Saturdays               $24

Thursdays & Sundays             $19


 


Reservations


 

Tickets can be purchased at

Dobama Theatre          216-932-3396 or online at www.dobama.org
<http://www.dobama.org/>   Ticketleap

Karamu Theatre          216-795-7077 or online at www.karamu.com
<http://www.karamu.com/>  Brown Paper Tickets 

 

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