KARAMU HOUSE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

FOR NEW PLAY ABOUT CLEVELAND MAYOR CARL STOKES

BELIEVE IN CLEVELAND

written by DANIEL GRAY-KONTAR

directed by TONY F. SIAS

PERFORMANCE: JUNE 10, 2017

Karamu House Jelliffe Theatre

Please submit headshot and resume along with ROLE you wish to be submitted for to: CASTING@karamuhouse.org by Friday, May 26, 2017 5PM.

ABOUT THE PLAY

The concept of the collaboration, which is titled “Believe in Cleveland” after Mayor Stokes’ inaugural speech, is to present a contemporary performance with a historical perspective that both celebrates the achievements of Carl Stokes and also looks to the future by inspiring young voices of CMSD to carry his legacy forward.  The presentation will incorporate the spoken word and live music to convey Mayor Stokes’ aspirations and accomplishments.   This narrative docudrama about the historic election of Carl B. Stokes Jr as the nation’s first African-American mayor of a major metropolitan city combines poetry, song, dance, and multi-media. The monologues and conversations captured here are drawn from such primary source material as newspaper articles, autobiographical notes, and video clips; however, much of what appears in the piece is comprised of fictionalized accounts of the historical period.

Directed by Sias, BELIEVE IN CLEVELAND is written by poet, rapper, and journalist Daniel Gray-Kontar, Executive Director of Twelve Literary and Performative Arts Incubator.  Student interns from Twelve Arts have has co-written the story.  Kontar says, the piece is “a testament to the hope, struggle, and triumph of a city that set race aside to make history forty years before the election of the nation’s first African American president, Barack Hussein Obama.”

NOW ACCEPTING NON-UNION SUBMISSIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING ROLES:

ROLES

YOUNG CARL: 20s, African American, energetic, hopeful, must be natural with spoken-word poetry and/or rap

LOUIS STOKES: 30s-40s, African American, Carl’s brother

YOUNG KENNETH: 30s-40s, Caucasian Male, campaign manager for Carl Stokes, hopeful, positive, strong-willed

ELDER KENNETH: 50s-60s, Caucasian Male, to play “older” version of KENNETH, but still full of hope

EDWARD: 40s, Caucasian Male, a phone worker on Stokes’ campaign

STREETS: 20s, Any ethnicity/gender; to play “the voice” of key Cleveland urban streets and neighborhoods;

                 must be comfortable with spoken-word poetry; movement and vocals a plus

Rehearsals begin immediately. All roles are compensated.  There are no union contracts for these roles. 

Please submit headshot and resume along with ROLE you wish to be submitted for to: CASTING@karamuhouse.org by Friday, May 26, 2017 5PM.

No phone calls please.