BELIEVE IN CLEVELAND, written by DANIEL GRAY-KONTAR and directed by TONY F. SIAS, President + CEO of Karamu House is a narrative docudrama about the historic election of Carl B. Stokes, Jr as the nation’s first African-American mayor of a major metropolitan city. By combining poetry, song, dance and multi-media, the monologues and conversations captured are drawn from 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. BELIEVE IN CLEVELAND conceptualized by Sias, and written by poet, rapper, and journalist Daniel Gray-Kontar, executive director of Twelve Literary + Performative Arts Incubator. Student interns from Twelve Arts have co-written the story. BELIEVE IN CLEVELAND 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.
created by ROBERT NEBLETT and DAVID GRAPES
with musical arrangements by VINCE DIMURA
A Regional Premiere
written by RAJIV JOSEPH
produced in collaboration with Ensemble Theatre
An Ohio Premiere
A World Premiere
Karamu celebrates the Holidays this season with an original Jazz musical revue featuring favorite Holiday classics. Join us for a “holly, jolly,” jazzy ride down memory lane with whole-hearted hilarity, and a touch of sass.
written by CELESTE BEDFORD WALKER
A Regional Premiere
written by LISA CODRINGTON
adapted from the short story
by GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
An American Premiere
A Regional Premiere
Stay tuned to hear about a haunting new musical so electrifying that Variety Magazine calls it, “Emotionally HOT!” This hip-hop-infused epic musical received its New York Premier in 2015 and will be officially announced in June 2017.