Within hours of Karamu House filming the last scene of its new theatrical production "Freedom on Juneteenth" last Friday, Rayshard Brooks, a Black man, was fatally shot by a police officer at a Wendy’s in Atlanta.
The Cleveland theater, the nation’s oldest producing African American theater, had originally planned to create a Juneteenth program celebrating the music of Bill Withers, along with a Juneteenth history lesson. But after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of police and the protests that have erupted since across the nation and world, Karamu President and CEO Tony Sias knew the focus of the Juneteenth production must be changed.
Sias said Karamu’s original work, to be streamed for free at 7 p.m. Friday night, is the theater’s "unapologetic response" to police brutality that has led to the deaths of African Americans.
"There is an extreme urgency to respond to these murders — and to address the freedoms that African Americans still do not yet experience, 155 years after the last slave in this country went free,’’ Silas said in a release.
Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States when Union soldiers led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, with news that the war had ended and the enslaved were free. That happened 2½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863.
At Karamu, over a period of just one week, 22 area artists brought together their responses to Floyd’s death, woven together by writers Sias, Latecia Wilson and Mary Weems for a multimedia show that brings viewers from the 1865 date when the last U.S. slaves were set free through the present day. The story of the Black experience also includes Red Summer — the period in 1919 of white supremacist terrorism and racial riots across more than 36 U.S. cities — as well as the Civil Rights Movement.
The Karamu show, made up of about 80% original material, features spoken word, music and dance. Other works in the public domain have been adapted, including a scene by Ananias Dixon from "The Merchant of Venice" that substitutes references to conflict between Christian and Jew to that between white and Black.
Cast and crew spent two 12-hour days last week filming the show according to scheduled times. The process included temperature checks as well as social distancing on stage. For numbers where performers were closer than 6 feet apart, including dance segments, performers wore masks.
For a sneak peek of "Freedom on Juneteenth," see https://ift.tt/3fxz1XL.
The goals of the event are to celebrate Juneteenth, educate others on its historical significance and to activate communities, including through voter registration. The theater is encouraging audience members to turn their anger, disgust and frustration into ballot responses in November, especially in local elections.
"Karamu House has responded to the needs of the community since we were founded 105 years ago, and we are continuing to do just that — within a pandemic and a historic movement for the advancement of the rights of, and justice for, Black America," Sias said by email Tuesday. "This is very personal to me. Not only am I president and CEO of this country’s oldest African American producing theatre, I am also a Black man — from Mississippi.
"My grandfather, Henry Sias, Sr., was an activist during the civil rights movement. Today, I, Tony F. Sias, am an activist in the #BlackLivesMatter movement."
"Freedom on Juneteenth," produced and directed by Sias with support from KeyBank, will stream Friday on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Fire TV and ROKU. The event will include the prerecorded, hourlong show followed by a live 30-minute panel discussion and interactive dialogue with community leaders on Facebook and YouTube about recent developments in the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
For more information on the history of Juneteenth, see https://ift.tt/3eQlpXm.
‘Being Earnest’
Western Reserve Playhouse will present "The Importance of Being Earnest" in a Facebook Livestream event at 7 p.m. Saturday. The free virtual play will star August Scarpelli and Jason Leupold as Jack and Algernon, Adrienne Jones and Shani Ferry as Cecily and Gwendolen, and Kevin Kelly as Lady Bracknell. Follow WRP on Facebook to be notified of the play beginning Saturday.
New on Thursday
On Thursday, the Cleveland Orchestra is launching TCO Classics, a new series of free, on-demand full-length concert recordings available for online streaming. Music lovers can enjoy hearing performances from the orchestra’s extensive archives across six decades of live concert recordings at clevelandorchestra.com/classics.
The programming for TCO Classics is curated by Cleveland Orchestra Chief Artistic Officer Mark Williams, who will select five to eight complete Cleveland Orchestra concerts to stream on the third Thursday of each month. Offerings will be available for listening for one month.
Among the seven programs in the first group are former Music Director George Szell leading the orchestra in a 1967 concert featuring Henri Dutilleux’s "Métaboles" — a piece Szell commissioned to celebrate the Orchestra’s 40th anniversary that Szell and the orchestra premiered in January 1965. And a 2003 concert features Franz Welser-Moest conducting the first piece he commissioned as the orchestra’s music director — Kaija Saariaho’s "Orion."
Hear Heaton
The Greater Cleveland Film Commission will present "Between the Screens: A Conversation with Patricia Heaton" at 7 p.m. Monday, a Zoom webinar moderated by radio host and former actor Jeremiah Widmer (The Jeremiah Show, Q104 FM).
Heaton is best known for her role as mom Frankie Heck in ABC’s comedy "The Middle" from 2009 to 2018 and for her role as Debra Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond," for which she won two Emmy Awards.
With Widmer, she’ll talk about how growing up in Northeast Ohio impacted her career and will discuss her experiences in the entertainment business. The event will include a limited audience Q&A.
The event is free but registration is required.
Winston music video
Acclaimed pianist George Winston has released an inspirational video tribute to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor featuring his rendition of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," which he recorded on his album, Restless Wind. See the video tribute at https://youtu.be/CZCO_8G4-ak.
Winston has also released his 1996 documentary film "Seasons In Concert" for free amid the pandemic to offer music to help others heal during challenging times. The concert, originally filmed in Nashville for PBS, is available on Winston's YouTube channel.
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