Help @KaramuHouse Celebrate Its 100th Anniversary

Karamu

Sat 6/13 @ 7PM

Mon 6/15 @ 7:30PM

The nineteen-teens was an explosive period for the arts in Cleveland. Within a period of three years between 1915 and 1918, the Cleveland Play House, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art all came into being.

Those institutions drew the attention of the wealthy and prominent. But there was another, equally stellar Cleveland cultural institution that begin during that time. Karamu House was founded in 1915 as a place where people of all races and socio-economic classes could bond over the arts.

Karamu has become especially known for its theater, which has had its ups and down. It’s been associated with some legendary talents ranging from the writer Langston Hughes to Cleveland’s legendary first couple of acting Reuben and Dorothy Silver. It hit a down period in the ’90s but in the last 11-plus years, with the dynamic Terrence Spivey as its artistic director, it’s again been presenting a program of exciting, powerful, challenging and uplifting productions.

Karamu supporters will celebrate — and raise money to keep its essential work moving ahead — with a fundraising dinner at the Cleveland Museum of art, featuring live performances, awards and an afterparty. Tickets are $200.

If that’s a little too high-end for you, then support Karamu by attending one of its performances. Currently, its staging of the musical, The Wiz, directed by Spivey, is running through Sun 6/21. Hurry and get your tickets though; some performances are sold out.

In addition, it will hold a one-night-only performance of Home by Samm-Art Williams, featuring the Negro Ensemble Company and Karamu alumni. That takes place Mon 6/15. Tickets are $35.

Karamu’s 2015-12016 season is titled “Season of Dreams, Society and Healing.” Its offerings include a couple of popular Karamu staples, Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity and the inspirational God’s Trombones, another perennial favorite of black musical theater, Dreamgirls, and a pair of sobering and thought-provoking works: Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67 and Kia Corthrom’s Force Continuum, which explores the couldn’t-be-more-timely issue of police-community relations. That one should make for some lively post-show talk-backs.

Go to Karamu’s website for tickets and more information.

karamuhouse.org

Cleveland, OH 44106

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