[NEohioPAL] FW: The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Tupac Shakur lives on at Karamu Theatre in premiere of new play by Michael Oatman

[michael oatman]

To: tsplywrght at aol.com
Subject: The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Tupac Shakur lives on at Karamu Theatre in premiere of new play by Michael Oatman
Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 17:40:23 -0400
From: tsplywrght at aol.com


Tupac Shakur lives on at Karamu Theatre in                                             premiere of new play by Michael Oatman
by Tony Brown/Plain Dealer Theater Critic 
Thursday May 28, 2009, 1:31 PM

                                                                                    Paramount Pictures
Thirteen years after his death, Tupac Shakur is one of the best-selling hip-hop 
artists of all time.


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tupac Shakur -- the rapper whose life was pocked with 

violence and police run-ins and whose music was remarkable for its political 

stances and its personal revelations -- died in 1996. 



But there has been no end to the study of his complex life and speculation about his

spectacular death. He was shot to death in a drive-by shooting at a Las Vegas 

intersection in what many suspect was a battle in a larger East Coast-West Coast 

hip-hop war with New York's Biggie Smalls (aka the Notorious B.I.G.).



In addition to documentary films and academic theses vaunting his intellectual 

and social impact, Shakur inspired "Love Poems," a 1997 collection by poet 

Nikki Giovanni.



Cleveland audiences can get in on this continuing dialogue thanks to "Before I Die: 

The War Against Tupac Shakur," a new play by Karamu Theatre playwright-in-

residence Michael Oatman. It begins previews Wednesday at Karamu. 



Here are excerpts from a recent conversation with Oatman, 35, a Cleveland native 

who holds a master's degree from the Northeast Ohio graduate creative writing 

consortium of Kent State, Youngstown State and Cleveland State universities 

and the University of Akron. 



Q. A lot has been written about Shakur. What's your angle?



A. The play is set during the last three days of Tupac's life, in a penthouse suite in 

Vegas. I didn't want to tell a full bio, but to take what I call a "keyhole" approach, 

looking through a small lens but seeing the bigger picture. Biggie Smalls appears 

in a long scene. Tupac had been desperately trying to get Biggie to come to the
hotel to bury the hatchet.




                                       William Rieter
Karamu playwright-in-residence Michael 
Oatman, in the Jelliffe Theatre at 
Karamu.


Before I Die: The War Against Tupac Shakur 
When: Previews at 7:30 p.m. 

Wednesday, June 3, and Thursday, June 

4. Opens at 8 p.m. Friday, June 5. Runs 

through Sunday, June 14. 


Where: Karamu Theatre, 2355 East 89th St., Cleveland. 
Tickets: $8-$20. Call 216-795-7070 or go click here. 



Q. What makes Shakur such a fascinating character?



A. If Tupac didn't exist, Shakespeare would have written him. He's so complex. 

He could be despicable and honorable in the same two minutes. And he was 

the first gangsta rapper to talk about pain and not just about killing people. He 

had self-doubt. Tupac was not afraid to show weakness onstage. Most rappers 

are in the super-macho, super-sexy mode. Tupac showed you vulnerability, then 

self-confidence. You see him sowing the seeds of his own destruction. It's 

classically tragic. 



Q. That's two characters. Others?



A. Six altogether. Suge Knight, the owner of Death Row Records, Tupac's label, 

who was with him when he was shot, is a malevolent character, a menacing father 

figure. And there's a groupie-lawyer, Charlene; an underling, Rome; and a promoter, 

Stoval. 



Q. Sounds like a fictional account based on true events.



A. Any story worth telling is worth lying about. Tupac, Biggie and Suge are real people. 

Tupac was in a hotel in Vegas. But I imagine what went on. The other three are made 

up. But Charlene is the kind of woman he was attracted to. When he wanted to settle 

down and get to know someone, he tended to like strong females, like Charlene. 



Q. What else do you have going on?



A. I'm working on a play for the youth program at Karamu. And I'm working on another 

play about Tupac called "Drowning the Flame," about the complicated relationship

between Tupac, Jada Pinkett and Will Smith. It premieres June 19 at Cain Park. And 

I'm going to direct a play, about strong women, at the Ingenuity Festival, July 10-12. 



Q. Playwright-in-residence at Karamu sounds like a busy gig . . .



A. It's great. I've had an office here since October 2007. And it's an open-ended thing. 

I'll be here until they boot me out.


http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2009/05/tupac_shakur_lives_on_at_karam.html#more 







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