Dobama & Karamu's Caroline, or Change
Two Local Companies, One Historic Production

Few plays change your life, but let me say this: when I first saw the Tony Kushner/Jeanine Tesori musical Caroline, or Change several years ago, it knocked the breath out of me. I can't remember a musical in 25 years that managed the kinds of powerful effects it had: lumps in my throat, hair standing up on my head. The same thing happened to long-time Cleveland director Sarah May, who came back from seeing the Broadway production intent on getting it produced in Cleveland.

"I strong-armed everyone I knew," laughs May. "Scott Spence at the Beck Center, the Jewish Community Center, Dobama, everybody. I couldn't stop talking about it." This week May's quest to get the Tony-nominated musical staged pays off. As part of another historic collaboration between Dobama and Karamu theaters, both open their seasons with this massive production of 17 actors and 8 musicians. It's historic for another reason. This will be May's return to Karamu after nearly ten years' absence. It should be a memorable homecoming, as her nearly 40-year career in theater has been intertwined with Karamu from its inception.

"I was a civil rights kid," she reminisces. "Back in the 60's, when I was first working at the Play House, I kept wanting them to hire black actors, do plays with issues, experiment with blind casting. Finally the Artistic Director gently suggested that I ought to work at Karamu." So May -- white, Jewish, female -- spent the next several decades shuttling between the venerable African-American theater and directing in New York.

"When I went to New York, Karamu was there, too," she says. "Bill Cobbs, Reyno Creighton, Debra Bird, who now works for American Idol, a lot of the original cast of Dreamgirls, they were all Karamu people. It was an incredibly vibrant time, and great fun to be part of that crowd."

As a director, May is mostly known for her sensitive work on dramas -- so it's surprising to discover how much musicals are in her blood. "My mother was in musicals on Broadway in the 30's and 40's, so that's what I grew up on," she says. "It's skipped a generation, because my daughter works in musicals now." In Cleveland, May directed musicals at Cain Park and more recently the All-City Musical, as well as a stunning production of the musical play Mule Bone at Karamu.

But she's bringing her dramatic chops to Caroline, or Change.

"I'm approaching it like any other great piece of theater that's about something important," she says. "It's about such a turbulent period of our history, and it has so many issues and such depth."

Kushner & Tesori's work looks at two families affected by the changes of the civil rights movement: a white Jewish family and their African-American housekeeper. The recently orphaned 10-year-old Noah (Christian Flaherty) isn't ready to accept his new stepmother and instead relies on the maid Caroline, whom he adores. But his stepmother's insistence that any change he carelessly leaves in his pockets will become Caroline's leads to a literal sea-change in the relationships of them all.

"It's such a powerful, poignant story," says May. "It really affected me. I have a secret event in my own life, where I said something in 5th grade that hurt someone, and I've never forgotten it."

Besides Tesori's fantastically diverse score -- from blues to gospel to arias to klezmer -- the book of Caroline, or Change is bursting with invention, too, with choruses coming from Caroline's washer, drier, and radio as well as the bus she waits for. It's also got challenging roles for everyone, including two Equity actors -- Sheffia Randall Dooley (Caroline) and Colleen Longshaw as her friend -- and an ensemble that includes several children. "We have such absolutely wonderful kids in this," says May. "I'm just thrilled - THRILLED - that I'm getting the chance to do this."

Karamu & Dobama open Caroline, Or Change on Friday, September 19. Visit http://www.dobama.org for details.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein lindaATcoolcleveland.com
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