Terrence Spivey still recalls his first visit to Cleveland back in January 2003, when he had been hired as guest director of Karamu House Theater’s staging of Little Tommy Parker. The production manager picked him up at Hopkins Airport and delivered him to the East Side of town.
“We turned the corner of 89th and Cedar,” the Texas native remembers. “I saw the Karamu House sign, and I was almost in tears. My stomach dropped. I went, ‘This is the place I learned about as a student — and now I’m directing here.’ I hadn’t felt that excitement since college, when we were in the American College Theater Festival at the Kennedy Center.”
It wasn’t the drab red brick building — an unbecoming cross between a rundown office and a 1960s-era elementary school, with its linoleum-tiled corridors and vague odor of disinfectant — that got the New York City theater maven so excited. It was the history attached to Karamu that made it sacred ground to him, and it was that same history that beckoned him to stay.
With roots dating back to 1915, Karamu is the nation’s oldest multicultural theater with an African-American focus. But the theater is only one aspect of several functions of Karamu House, which also includes daycare, after-school care, and educational programs for adults and children. As the theater’s glory years faded in the ’70s, due in large part to the increased openness of better-funded mainstream theaters to feature black-oriented plays, those other programs threatened to eclipse — perhaps even erase — the theater as a prime driver of Karamu.
Spivey arrived on the scene like a hurricane, and by almost unanimous opinion he has restored much of that former luster. But as he completes his ninth year with Karamu, Spivey has seen internal conflicts threaten to derail his accomplishments — battles between administrators over how the place should be run, disputes over where the institution’s priorities lie, and concerns that the man in charge of it all is trying to implode Karamu’s most prized attributes: the theater and Spivey himself.
The story of Karamu House is almost a foundational myth in Cleveland’s black community. It was started as a community center by Russell & Rowena Jelliffe, two Oberlin College graduates who were steeped in their school’s progressive tradition as the first U.S. college to offer racially mixed classes. Though they were white, the Jelliffes welcomed all comers.
The arts became a significant focus of the center, then called Playhouse Settlement (it took on its current name, a Swahili word meaning “a joyful gathering place,” in the early 1940s). From the 1930s to the ’70s, Karamu was a magnet for black artists, gradually acquiring its reputation as a center for African-American arts, since most other institutions of the time were closed to them. Among those who worked there were renowned poet-playwright Langston Hughes, Ron “Superfly” O’Neal, Robert Guillaume of Soap and Benson fame, and American Idol vocal coach Debra Byrd.
After attending college in his native Houston, Spivey decamped for New York, where he spent 18 years working in hotels and pursuing acting. In 2001, he organized a theater company to bring together African Americans and Hispanics in his Harlem neighborhood. He found a sense of empowerment as a producer/director that he never knew as an actor.
It was around that time that Spivey recalled the progressive black theater in Cleveland he had heard about so many years before.”I thought, let me see if Karamu is around. I looked at the website at what they were working on for the season. All the plays except one had “director to be announced.” I e-mailed them, and they said, ‘Send us a résumé.’ I wasn’t looking to be a guest director; just browsing to see what was going on. But they asked me to come direct Little Tommy Parker. It was as if they were foreshadowing me as artistic director.”
At the time, Gerry McClamy was Karamu’s executive director, following in the footsteps of the more artistically inclined Margaret Ford Taylor in 1996. McClamy had been trying to serve as the theater’s director as well, despite her lack of background in the art form. It was not a period of great artistic strides, but it kept the bottom line in shape.
“Gerry McClamy’s idea was, everything should be fiscally responsible, that no money should be wasted,” remembers James Workman, a former Karamu employee who wore many hats there in two stints between 1997 and 2008. “You only have 100 seats in the theater, and that’s not going to help your cause as far as making money. But she did a good job of keeping Karamu afloat financially and also keeping productions going.”
Longtime Cleveland theater critic and playwright Linda Eisenstein, who attended Karamu as a teenager in the ’60s, remembers the pre-Spivey years: “Karamu was just barely on life support. The foundations, as far as I can tell, were about ready to give up on it. The quality was not very high, and they were doing an attenuated season — bringing back Black Nativity once a season and doing maybe another play or two. The theater was pretty much in disarray.”
By 2003, McClamy recognized the problem and quickly eyed the solution in Spivey. Before the run of Little Tommy Parker was over, she’d extended an invitation for him to stay in Cleveland.
“I went home and talked to my family,” says Spivey. “I heard that Gerry told one of the actors, ‘He’s on our prayer list; we’ve got to get him here.'”
And so they did.
Upon arriving, with his wife and two young children in tow, Spivey found himself up against some steep challenges: He was leading an understaffed organization with a shoestring budget and fighting back a growing reputation as an unprofessional community theater that few people even knew about.
That started to change in early 2004, when Eisenstein showed up to review Spivey’s production of Thomas Gibbons’ Bee-Luther Hatchee, a racially charged play that hinges on a white man’s literary impersonation of an elderly black woman. She was so enthralled by what she saw that she convinced The Plain Dealer to run her review. The paper’s regular theater critic, Tony Brown, picked up on her enthusiasm and wrote a major profile of Spivey before the show closed. He started returning regularly to review Karamu’s shows.
Today, almost everyone from the artists to the audiences to the critics to the highly influential Gund and Cleveland Foundations — both major Karamu House funders — sing the praises of Spivey and what he’s accomplished.
“When I first met him, the thing that impressed me so much was his deep understanding and empathy for the historic perspective of what Karamu has been,” says Eisenstein. “He got what the potential of Karamu was. [He wants] to reestablish it as a basis of pride in the theater community, as well as in the community as a whole. Somebody like him comes along once in a generation — someone who has both the skills and the vision.”
“He’s a wonderful director,” says Peter Lawson Jones, the former Cuyahoga County commissioner who launched a full-time acting career after county reform squeezed him out of a job last year. He credits Spivey for encouraging him to return to his theater roots. “I think Terrence is an MVP and is one of the most critical assets that Karamu has.”
But for all the accolades from seemingly every corner, Spivey now finds himself in a battle for the theater’s survival — and perhaps for his own future at Karamu.
When Gerry McClamy retired as Karamu’s executive director in 2006, she was succeeded on an interim basis by Greg Ashe, a former director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland.
The move came with its share of irony. Karamu board members had heard claims that Ashe cultivated a hostile environment at his previous employer. Jones called a friend to investigate the rumors, but was told to give Ashe a chance.
“He has a set of skills I thought would be useful,” says Jones, who voted for Ashe’s permanent appointment. And in 2007, the board did just that.
But a short time later, some observers saw Ashe becoming more aggressive in putting his stamp on the institution. Board members noticed early in his tenure that there was tension between him and Spivey. Ashe could be aggressive and even a little intimidating. Spivey’s personality is described by multiple observers as “patient,” “relaxed,” and “very zen in many ways.” Ashe seemed anything but that.
“Terrence didn’t trust Greg, [and] Greg didn’t feel Spivey was a team player,” one board member recalls. “The board had a meeting to help them work it through, maybe 3-4 years ago. There were some accommodations, but they didn’t last.
“Terrence felt not enough money was put into marketing the theater and that the administration was slow in approving contracts for actors, directors, and royalties,” says the board member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And anytime there was a policy disagreement like that, he felt Greg conducted himself in a confrontational manner.”
Their priorities weren’t a good fit either. Given Ashe’s background — and his lack of theater expertise — it was perhaps to be expected that daycare and education earned the lion’s share of his attention.
Some of that was justifiable. Karamu had long struggled with its finances, and keeping it on solid footing was a priority. The daycare and education programs made money; the theater didn’t always do so, despite its twin cash-cow productions — God’s Trombones and Black Nativity — and the money it brings in from Cuyahoga County’s arts & culture tax: $150,187 this coming year, according to county figures.
But it was the theater that got the publicity, the newspaper stories, the awards — increasingly so as Spivey’s reputation grew. He lobbied successfully for Karamu to receive the prestigious longevity award from the National Black Theater Festival in 2005. He was profiled by the influential national publication American Theatre in 2009. Last year, Karamu performed its signature production of God’s Trombones — a 1927 poetry book of “Negro sermons” adapted by Spivey — at the Akron Civic Theatre, the first time in years a Karamu show had been mounted outside its building. That production was featured in the Gund Foundation’s annual report for 2010.
“God’s Trombones is my adaptation, so they don’t have to worry about paying royalties,” Spivey points out. “It makes money for Karamu.”
Performing-arts patrons, understandably, are convinced that without the theater, Karamu’s daycare would be just another inner-city business.
“The theater is really the backbone of Karamu,” says Jeri Waters, a former Karamu board member who became involved by working on a 2006 fund-raiser. “When you mention the name Karamu, [the theater] is what most people in the community associate Karamu with. It’s its brand.”
“I feel the history of theater at Karamu is at the heart of that institution, and the institution’s energy needs to go to supporting theater,” says Jones.
The implication in Jones’ words is that any energy that doesn’t support the theater needs to be kicked to the curb.
“He’s never in the theater,” Jones says of Ashe. “He doesn’t interact with the actors.”
Scene requested an interview with Greg Ashe for this story. He responded that he was too busy, but offered to field questions sent by e-mail.
As for his involvement with the theater, he responded, “I make it a priority to attend opening-night performances.”
Shortly after Ashe received a list of questions from Scene, Karamu staffers found a message in their mailboxes, forbidding them to talk to the media without clearing it with him first.
Cleveland playwright Michael Oatman has been involved with Karamu for five years. His productions — including Before I Die: The War Against Tupac — have brought widespread attention to the theater and earned him the 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize for writing. He gives endless credit to Spivey, but says he barely knows Ashe.
“He’s pleasant enough; he says hello in the hall,” says Oatman, a hulking, outspoken man. “But basically I have no interaction with him.”
He admits to being surprised when Ashe was tapped to introduce him for the Cleveland Arts Prize. He expected that Spivey, who encouraged him to write about Tupac and created a spot for him as Karamu’s playwright in residence, would be the one to do the honors. Other local theater people suggest it was a power play on Ashe’s part, intended to diminish Spivey’s prominence.
Many of the people contacted for this story indicated a reluctance to speak on the record about the relationship between Spivey and Ashe, for fear of hurting Karamu — an institution they love — or their own relationship with it.
“Off the record, I think it’s jealousy,” says one. “Terrence was getting a lot of favorable publicity, and Greg is jealous of anyone else getting publicity.”
When the subject turns to Ashe, Spivey grows mum.
In Ashe’s e-mail response, he offered this about Spivey: “Terrence’s wonderful ability to bring a play to life is appreciated both internally and externally by audiences and critics.”
He didn’t respond to specific questions about the issues at Karamu, sticking to generalities about the institution and what it does.
Early in 2011, Jeri Waters was elected chair of Karamu’s board. Architect Neil Dick, who was welcomed into the organization two years earlier by his friend Peter Lawson Jones, was elected vice chairman. Waters and Dick looked at how the board was functioning and felt that it needed to step up and oversee Karamu more diligently, as the nonprofit’s bylaws give it authority to do.
Dick had previous experience as a board member with the Cleveland Sight Center, where he’d learned the importance of effective governance of an organization by its board. Ashe says that Karamu has operated in the black for the past three years. But Dick felt the board needed to step up its level of involvement to do some serious fund-raising heading into Karamu’s centennial in 2015; after all, its 1940s facility needs extensive upgrades, and Karamu has no endowment to draw from.
“The board has quite a bit of power, and it must be exercised wisely,” says Dick. “It has power to hire and fire an executive director, and to give instructions to the director during the year.”
The board could also ask Spivey to report directly to it, Dick says. But more conflict arose with Ashe when that request was made.
“The executive director wanted to filter through him, and we wanted to hear from the artistic director [directly],” says Dick. “He is an incredibly creative individual, and we wanted to hear what he wanted to achieve. The artistic director reports to the executive director, but the board does have the authority to decide who participates at their meetings. This was a very serious clash. It was going to make very significant changes in how Karamu had operated for many years, and people don’t like change.”
One of those people was Ashe. Several board members observed that the director tried to marginalize Spivey’s interaction with the board.
“He would not put him on the agenda,” says one board member, “or he’d make Terrence one of four or five people from various departments to report, to diminish his presence.”
Another board request that didn’t go over well was a performance review of the executive director.
“Greg Ashe has been executive director for years, and he has never had a performance review,” says Waters. “They would say there should be one, but it was never done. When I became the board chair, it was definitely high on the list.” She adds that another board suggestion — that Ashe take some training in running an arts-based organization — fell on deaf ears.
The board also found that the long-simmering tension between Spivey and Ashe hadn’t cooled off. Early this year, two employees — both on the administrative side, not in the theater — charged that Spivey had verbally abused them. One said Spivey had sent her nasty notes, though she didn’t save them. Others viewed the claims as being out of character for a man widely known for his easy-going demeanor.
“I have no doubt Greg orchestrated it,” says one Spivey ally, who points out that one of the accusers had been at Karamu for only a few months and is no longer there.
Another person close to Karamu’s theater, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, recalls tales of another employee having Ashe approach him “nose to nose with threats.”
“The complaint never went to the board,” the source says, “and human resources tried to get him to drop it. He refused and later was fired.”
In the spring, Waters sent a letter to Ashe and Spivey, asking them to sit down with the board and address the situation. “Terrence said he would do it, and Greg said he would too,” she says. “We had a meeting set up, maybe in May, and it was canceled. I don’t remember why. From there, things went downhill.”
That summer, board members supportive of Ashe told Waters and Dick that an attorney had been secured to ensure that they resigned from the board, according to Waters. The ultimatum stemmed from what Waters vaguely calls “a situation with an employee” — an employee Waters and Dick scarcely knew. (Waters claims she can’t go into further details for legal reasons.)
“That was their way to get rid of us,” Waters says, “because they knew we were going to hold Greg Ashe accountable and that things were going to change.”
By August, both Waters and Dick had been ousted by the other members — a majority of whom are allies of Ashe, they say.
Ashe did not respond to e-mailed requests to share his side of the story.
Board member Andrew Jackson, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s Commission on Economic Inclusion — and an ally of Ashe, according to the former members — did not return calls for this story prior to Ashe’s media embargo. Likewise, other board members contacted after Ashe’s decree have not responded to interview requests.
As the turmoil was brewing, Jones says that the board’s legal counsel suddenly demanded he fill out a conflict-of-interest form that would have barred him from participating in Karamu plays. Never mind that he’d been performing at Karamu since January 2008, while he was still a county commissioner. All of a sudden, things changed.
“I want to perform wherever I want, whenever I want, to build my career,” Jones says. “I had created some of the largest fund-raisers in their history. I initiated the Karamu Hall of Fame banquet. I chaired the resource-development committee. I had been an active board member, but when faced with that choice, it was a simple choice for me, given where I am in my life.”
Feeling pinched, Jones walked away in October. He says that his resignation, coming on the heels of Waters’ and Dick’s forced departures, precipitated the resignation of still another board member: Shilpi Banerjee, an attorney at Cleveland Clinic. When contacted for this story, she didn’t cite a specific reason for her departure.
The loss of almost half the boardroom in two months would raise eyebrows in any organization; at Karamu it’s been a well-kept secret.
Reached in mid-November, Deena Epstein of the Gund Foundation and Kathleen Cerveny of the Cleveland Foundation both were unaware of the board turnover or the issues behind it.
Jones is cautiously optimistic about the remaining board’s potential to right the ship. “The current chair [Chase VP David Reynolds] recognizes Greg’s deficits and won’t give him an easy time of it,” he says. Reynolds could not be reached for comment.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, Karamu House has just completed a powerful production of Michael Cristofer’s The Shadow Box, a play about hospice care and three families dealing with a member’s imminent death.
Outside in the cramped lobby, the interracial cast lines up in front of a row of black metal chairs, their cushions upholstered in a green and red floral pattern last seen in your grandmother’s house. The cast members warmly greet the emerging audience and engage in banter with friends. Spivey, a blocky man with a broad, friendly face and a flowing mane of long, slender dreadlocks, floats among them, greeting everyone who passes by. The actors are effusive in their praise of Spivey.
“He’s the best director,” says Ken Parker, who has acted in many Karamu productions under Spivey. In Little Tommy Parker, he played a dying man torn between his party-girl ex-wife and the gay lover who has been his caretaker. “A lot of us are here because of him.”
“He gave me my first break,” says Jeanne Madison, who played the ex-wife.
Once everyone has left, Spivey sits in the more spacious lobby of Karamu’s larger Jelliffe Theater, surrounded by production stills from past plays. He talks warmly about theater past, present, and future. And he’s demonstrating what almost everyone says about him: that he’s always in the theater, and that he can talk about theater all night if you’ll let him.
At one point, he recalls his arrival at Karamu, being greeted by Gerry McClamy and promotions director Vivian Wilson with hugs that knocked back his Texas Stetson, causing a wooden African mask to fall off the wall and break in two.
“I’m thinking it’s some sort of voodoo thing,” he recalls with a smile. “I’m doomed.”
So far, and insofar as his impact on the Karamu theater goes, Spivey has been charmed. Reviews have been good and — perhaps more telling — more and more people are stepping up and asking to get involved. More people than they could ever handle, in fact.
But Spivey is cagy about his relationship with Greg Ashe. When asked about the rumor that he’s threatened to quit once The Shadow Box closes, he only smiles. In fact, The Shadow Box has since given way to Karamu’s seasonal war horse, Black Nativity, and Spivey remains at the helm.
Ousted board member Neil Dick, for one, hopes things remain that way.
“I want to see Karamu not just survive, but to grow to that level I know it can become,” he says. “It would be a terrible loss [if Terrence left]. I know for a fact there are other entities that would love to have him, and unfortunately several of them are not here in Cleveland.”
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2011.
Mark 3:25 (NASB) If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
If Karamu’s current board of directors do not do the proper thing, that is, intervene — ditching Ashe and retaining Spivey, it will be a nail in the coffin for Karamu. Plain and simple. If Ashe stays, only his ego wins. Karamu will have seen its last heydays with Spivey. Cleveland loses again. Big Time.
What a fabulous story, Anastasia. Most people have ADD so unfortunetly it will only be read by a handful. You educated and brought an entire element of Cleveland to life, and the characters were made very well. The same problem of an artist being dominated by a political and self serving man is part of our history, and one of our most pressing problems in the USA and the world at large. Greed and power can be of many forms yet all the same. If our organizations and businesses were to identify and rid themselves of the negative entities which plauge them, we would live in a world of creativity and positive energy. It is often one man and his group of lawyers and political and influential men who keep many organizaitons from greater, greatness. The egos of these men will never admit that they are wrong. Nor will they say I am sorry for my jelousy. It often is a group of money and purse string controlling men who hold our artists and creative thinkers back.
Just your story alone has the makings of an excellant play. Have you done any screen plays? You are a very good writer. Thanks.
I’m sorry I wasn’t contacted to add my voice to this article. I was born and raised in Cleveland, living for a time on E. 86th and Quincy and in various other places for the first several decades of my life and Karamu has been a place I’ve longed to have my work produced since I wrote my first play in the early 90s.
It didn’t happen until Terrence Spivey became Artistic Director. A couple of years ago my play “Closure” directed by Terrence opened the season at Karamu, after being cancelled at the last minute when it was scheduled to ‘close’ the previous season.
The best thing about this experience was Terrence including the care he took with my work, his collaborative way of directing, the care and respect he has for his actors, stage manager, set designer and all involved in making a production happen, as well as the once in a lifetime opportunity to work with Choreographer, Dianne McIntyre, the amazing ensemble of actors (Rodney Freeman, Saidah Mitchell, Kyle Carthens, Amanda Lanier, Shambrion Treadwell, Cameron Dashiell)and Vivian Wilson’s help as Marketing Director. The worst thing about it was the brief meeting I had with Ashe and the way the business end of things was handled. I felt disrespected as an artist and scholar and still do not understand ‘why?’ Terrence is the best thing that’s happened to Karamu and I fully support his remaining as Artistic Director and hope to see the day that he has the degree of autonomy he deserves to continue to bring the vision the Jelliffe’s had as well as his own artistic vision for Karamu to life.
Mary E. Weems, Ph.D.
When an artist like Mary Weems makes esentially the same statement which every other person involved seems to have made, it pretty much seals the deal: There is one guy who needs to continue his productive work in Cleveland in the arts, and another guy who tried to high-jack an institution of higher art which he has no business in who needs to go. Get the lawyers and the bean-counters back into line where they belong and take them out of leadership roles in every area of industry other than law firms and accounting firms. Lawyers and MBA’s and their bean-counters make poor leaders, yet it has been these types who have pushed their way into every aspect of the USA. They have surpressed creativity all too much and all to often over the last thirty years. We made too many lawyers and MBA’s and now we hve contracts and litigation where we used to have creativity and progress. We empowered these types and we can de-power them. They must be communicated to without the lawyers and business control freaks of today. If we would just start putting more art and creativity in our higher education and less legal-shmeegal crap we would become a more real country and society again…and far more fuctional and fun.
HI,
I am 19 and currently a dancer in Karamu’s Black Nativity. It wasn’t until the fall of 2008 before I even knew about Karamu. I was told by one of my mentor Talise Campbell to come audition for the “New Gospel Musical” God’s Trombone. Since then Spivey has given me many opportunities. Not to long ago Spivey pulled me to the side and asked “would you be interested in choreographing God’s Trombone this season” when those words entered my ears I almost jumped out the window. My dream and goal is to be choreographer/director. It is so hard to do so in Cleveland because everyone tends to put you sown instead of trying to lift you up. If it wasn’t for Spivey I don’t think I would still be trying to pursue this profession. But he gives me hope that i can be greatness because he see’s my talent. At the moment I’m dancing in Black Nativity and Choreographing Rid-All “A Green Movement” which goes up January 14th in the jellife Theater. I am so grateful to be able to go to a place like this to spread my gift and help others do the same. I just wish others my age will take on the opportunity they have at hand before its to late.
SORRY FOR THE SPELLING ERRAS, I’M IN SCHOOL HAD TO TYPE FAT 😉
I’d like to add my voice to the choir of people praising Mr. Spivey. He understands Karamu’s true value is the theatre. The plays that grace Karamu’s stage are culturally resonant in a community that needs to hear these stories. Without the performing arts, Karamu is just a day care center with a bank machine.
I’d like to add my voice to the choir of people praising Mr. Spivey. He understands Karamu’s true value is the theatre. The plays that grace Karamu’s stage are culturally resonant in a community that needs to hear these stories. Without the performing arts, Karamu is just a day care center with a bank machine.
Anastasia. thank you so much for posting this story! I have asked Terrence several times to let me know what I could do to help and as you said, he just smiles. I was performing at Karamu back in the late 70’s early 80’s. I left for some years and returned in 2008. The first time I remember seeing Mr. Ashe was last month at the funeral of Jean (Granny Hawkins).
I totally agree with everyone else, Terrence has pulled Karamu out of the grave! We (actor’s) never know if we will get at least enough for gas to come to rehearsals. There is almost no publicity for the performances initiated by Karamu. Costumes are old and needs to be replenished. I remember when people donated wonderful outfits to Karamu. I could go on and on about what is needed there.
If Terrence leaves Karamu, you can bet that most of the actors will also leave. Mr. Ashe should get out and talk with those of us who are volunteering our time and talents to help keep Karamu afloat and find out what is needed and do something about it instead of hassling the person working the hardest to build Karamu’s reputation.
I arrived in Cleveland a few years ago. Despite my training and experience for years in NYC, passion for Cleveland, and individual performance style. Most Cleveland organizations wouldn’t give me two looks to contribute as an artist. The two artists in the Cleveland market who gave me an opportunity were Nina Domingue and Terrence Spivey. Spivey, another re-transplant from NYC has uplifted Karamu Theater to it’s historic form. Don’t be insular Karamu and CLE. Don’t drive out innovation and progress. Embrace unique, thoughtful, and innovative artists -aaron calafato
I am native of Cleveland and alumnus of Karamu Theatre. I have been invited back to Karamu on several occasions by Artistic Director, Terrence Spivey. The mere fact that the theatre alumni return – is a tribute not just to what Karamu Theatre means but what theatre as a genre mean. I would ask if any of the nursery school students come back to support the institution? Not to belittle the impact of the nursery school–but one should not take priority over the other–each segment contributes to the institution in it’s own way.
As young artists we are taught to be vulnerable–yet protective. When Spivey talks about ‘voodoo’ I can understand his inner feelings since who, how, why would anyone attack his work and achievements since arriving at Karamu — they have been stellar, intelligent and productive.
Yet I remember a ‘farewell’ party for Lois Mcguire that felt like a funeral when she was ousted by the board–perhaps Peter you might have answered the supreme calling to stay on the Karamu Board and fight from the top–perhaps–but being an outsider I can only suggest the what might have beens…I do know that if you lose Terrence all of Cleveland loses…the artists …the audiences…and the art! Susan Watson Turner – Professor Theatre – Lehman College – City University of New York
“Dark Days for the Black Arts”This a sad article for a Sunday morning. I hope someone takes a hint and create a plan of solutions. Although, I am a proud alumni of the 70’s and early 80’s of Karamu House, I have not been involved with the organization in any substantial manner… the reasons do not matter. I have a hope that it will be an artistic and theatrical “black board” for the community to learn and enjoy the arts.
The important issue (hopefully) is that the place that used to be refered to has my second home, survives and finds the air and sun to grow.
The ego is a powerful tool! It must be used carefully, for it can join pieces together and cut things into pieces. These are difficult financial times. An artist and a business driven person are going to focus on different sides of the sun and moon. I can only imagine both sides of the issues that both Mr. Spivey and Mr. Ashes must face. We pray that they are given a board room to realize what is important (which has to be the institution, itself) and delete any ego driven problems like two educated and experienced executives of a major community organization.
Taking sides will get Karamu no where! Perhaps, alumni, like myself can help by buying a ticket or starting/supporting a alumi group that remembers the “joy” of the objectives, Karamu was created by.
I hope both men come together and communicate the vast issues, thereby finding the plan to keep the place growing in a positive direction. Everyone wants to feel heard, needed and respected. I support that the basic foundations of this organization receives that… promptly! Gregory… Terrence… please allow that to happen by going and meeting halfway or leaving this wonderful place to some creatively brave, educated and intelligent soul(s) to rebuild. It in itself has to be bigger than the personalities that staff the halls. The history of Karamu disagreements travels back into the 60’s from my knowledge. in fact, there was a point of it looking like the wild wild west downthere! Lets move on. WE have young minds to build! I am blessed to have been one of them. “More please!” – Peace
When I served as the Director of Education at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, it was Terence Spivey, fresh on the job, who reached out to us to create and support a collaborative experience for a play about the ravages and silences of AIDS in the Black community. Prior to this moment with Spivey, ATGC had worked with nearly every local theater in some capacity BUT Karamu. It was because of Spivey’s vision and willingness to step outside of the box that the area Black community benefited not just from a robust and necessary theater experience, but also a rich conversation about a disease plaguing its local community. They also received easier linkages to the services and testing that could help keep them safe. Spivey had the vision and foresight to see that theater could be more than theater, theater could be a vehicle to educate and make change in real people’s lives. I’m sure Ashe is a fine E.D. of inner city youth service-based organizations, but what has been clear for all of us on the outside for some time, is that the leader of an arts organization is an ill-fit for this talented gentleman (trust, anyone who can keep an organization in the black during these times is a talented administrator–he just may not be a people person). Anyone serving as the head of Karamu HAS TO have a healthy respect not just for the essential programs that help keep the lights on, but also for what lies in front of the floodlights that keep the rest of our community going, that makes life something more. Anything less from the leadership of an arts organization, a nearly 100-year legend, is an affront to everything its founders and subsequent stakeholders intended for it to be.
— L. Michael Gipson
Since I came to Ohio in the early eighties, several names have brought honor and respect to Cleveland far beyond its borders and made me proud to be an audience member and participant: Ray Shepardson, James Levin, the Silvers, Fred Sternfeld — and high among those names, Terrence Spivey. Over the years, I have attended many Karamu plays. To name only a few, I was thrilled with Karamu’s original productions God’s Trombones and Before I Die: The War against Tupac. I sat unable to move after seeing the devastating Ruined, laughed out loud at The Odd Couple and The Bow Wow Club, and was transfixed by the magic of Caroline or Change, Yellowman, and most recently, The Shadow Box. In addition, I was proud to participate in staged readings and the epic The Great White Hope. Mr. Spivey has shared his vision and talents with all of Northeast Ohio. Please, Karamu, do not let internecine politics deprive Cleveland of the gift of Terrence Spivey.
~ Skip Corris
This is one of the most telling articles that I have read in quite some time. I am 63 years old and remember my Father taking me to Karamu as a young child. It is my hope that the community will not allow the ego of Ashe to continue to ruin the rich history of this fine establishment. As a community we need to rally behind Spivey and ensure that the properly skilled leadership is at the helm. The board needs to enforce the abilities they have to make this happen. Are we going to stand by and allow this to continue. I agree with a previous writer who stated that without Spivey and his leadership; Karamu is just a daycare with a bank machine. How sad would that be. DKN
I have read all the comments here, and many of them are right ‘on point.’ I was also very sad to hear that Peter Lawson Jones had left Karamu’s board. I admit that this very same conflict, management vs. the artistic, as Dale and others well mentioned, is epidemic in most arts organizations,especially today when arts funding is practically extinct. Absent the revelations about Board members’ infighting at Karamu, and other administrative faux pas, which all organizations suffer, this discussion MUST focus on the future of the Karamu Performing Arts Center.
When Ensemble Theatre collaborated with Karamu and Weathervane Playhouse in 2010 to produce “The Great White Hope” everyone knew from the beginning of summer 2009, that finances would be the biggest problem. We must have drafted 15 versions of the final budget for this production, which had a cast of 45, including 2 Equity actors and two locations. Though we vehemently disagreed on who would pay for what, the production opened a week late. Artists, actors, designers – managers, accountants and staff had come together to present a memorable work. This is what arts organizations DO. All the rest is commentary.
Although this article focused on this “High Noon” gunfight between Gregory Ashe and Terrence Spivey, the real issue here is how to preserve a legendary theatre, within a venerable institution’s other wonderful services to the Cleveland community. I know both Greg Ashe and Terrence Spivey, and they are both dedicated men into each of their respective professions.
There is always going to be sparks and fireworks when spirited and dedicated people work together. As someone mentioned above, the ISSUE here is how to get past the personalities, and down to how the Karamu Theatre continues. The Karamu Board needs to play Solomon here, and to refrain from publicly airing its disagreements. Ashe and Spivey are the two columns supporting Karamu, and the Board of Trustees must support this vital collaboration. Without it, the Board becomes Samson, tearing these professionals apart, and brings the roof crashing down on everyone. In art, as in life, vivid clarity solves many foggy storms.
Martin Cosentino
Managing Director
Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland
Wow…Im am first shocked, I am currently in NY and am originally form Cleveland. Terrance has been the lively hood to our only Black theatre in our city. I would hope that this can be resolved with losing Mr Spivey. There will be no Karmau with him. Im truly speechless. We cant truly suceed as a community if there are to many ego’s and chiefs. Terrance you have our support.
First, thanks Anastasia for such a marvelous and accurate story on the situation at Karamu. Those of us far away appreciate your journalistic integrity and style. 🙂
As a longtime Karamu supporter, volunteer, actor and student, I just want to say that Karamu has truly reclaimed it’s place in the local and national arts scene since Terrence came to work there. He’s been a tireless force behind the reestablishment of Karamu and its creative legacy. Karamu now stands as a shining example of what we can accomplish creatively together.
The Jelliffes established Karamu as a place for culture to blossom. It has been a center for community activity for nearly 100 years and is a Cleveland landmark. It is without a doubt, the creative soul of Cleveland’s Black community. I cannot for the life of me understand the attitudes that would try to make it less than it was meant to be. Value cannot always be measured in dollars and cents, although Terrence has brought in moneys that eluded past directors with his vision and courage. Yet, there persists this foolish infighting that’s all about personal power and not about the greater good.
Now this latest move by certain board members, influenced by the executive director, is making my gorge rise. Shame on you all! You’ve let your petty jealousies and rampant insecurities blind you to the truth. You simply won’t survive without the theater.
From a marketing perspective, Karamu is a long established brand –– a THEATER brand. You won’t be able to change that association in the minds of the public, or funding sources, so stop wasting (y)our time. Learn to work together, you’re stronger together than apart! – Patrice Kelly
I made my theatre debut in 2006 at Karamu in the Jelliffe theatre, “Dream On Monkey Mountain”. I was in that production thanks to one person.Terrence Spivey. I had no acting experience, just a couple of acting classes. I was so nervous when I auditioned in front of Terrence. The monologue I chose was way over my head and I think Terrence knew that. He gave me directions and had me do it over several times.
I was so excited when I was cast. Terrence Spivey gave me an opportunity to act and the rest is history. I love performing at Karamu and under the direction of Terrence. He always made time whenever I needed to talk with him about anything. He really cares about his actors and is always ready to teach. Kudos to you Terrence for all you have done at Karamu!
My heart goes out to Terrence and to Karamu. Yes I am an unabashed Terrance Spivey supporter. I know why he smiles. I know why he loves the theatre. I know why his heart is with Karamu. I have seen the “Zen like” patience aquired through hard work when there was no support. I have seen the smile grow even when the “house” was dark. I have seen him hone his craft even when others doubted his ability. I have seen him nurture his dream in his heart. All this before Karamu. Do not waste this talent Karamu. Terrance is so much than you can see and deeper than you can fathom. I can assure you that as he grows you will grow. Work it out.
Bless Terrence and Karamu
Edgar Faucett
This was so timely to conversations that I’ve been having lately. The topic of Karamu’s legacy being in jeopardy because of misguided intentions is always
stirring about and now the truth is finally coming to light. Thank you for sharing and for “putting it on the line”. We’ve got some dog-dirty laundry that needs a serious
cleaning and in the meantime folks are going to have to get used to being uncomfortable until it gets sorted out. It’s a sign though, that things are moving in a progressive direction (sacrificing comfort for change).
I’m looking forward to building a stronger Karamu as a “joyful gathering place”.
If there isn’t an immediate and swift removal of Greg Ashe then we will witness the downfall of the most prestigious black arts facilities of our time. I am a pretty well known spoken word artist and know Spivey personally. He is Karamu!!!
We made an attempt to bring poetry back to the theater were it belongs. The reason that was not successful was a direct result of Greg Ashe. Quite frankly the man has no business being involved in the business of black arts…
From this point forward if there is anything I can do to make this a reality I will do it. Cleveland CANNOT afford a true superstar like Mr. Spivey to take his ‘talents’ elsewhere…
Interesting back story regarding the historical impact of Karamu House on the community. The present situation would make a great movie. It gives me an idea for a screenplay.
Wow, Terry! I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with this, but because of the type of man and human being you are, you are covered by God’s grace. You were sent there for a reason, and if His plan is for you to revive and thrive somewhere else, you will know. Just keep doing YOU.
You have always put others’ best interest first; that is your strength. As an Artist, you will continue to do outstanding work, whether you stay at Karamu House or are led somewhere else. Many blessings to you, my friend.
Interesting back story regarding the historical impact of Karamu House on the community. The present situation would make a great movie. It gives me an idea for a screenplay.
Wow, Terry! I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with this, but because of the type of man and human being you are, you are covered by God’s grace. You were sent there for a reason, and if His plan is for you to revive and thrive somewhere else, you will know. Just keep doing YOU.
You have always put others’ best interest first; that is your strength. As an Artist, you will continue to do outstanding work, whether you stay at Karamu House or are led somewhere else. Many blessings to you, my friend.
All I know is that the response in favor of Terry and the support which he has gained and the testimony of so many artists and fans on this blog alone should make it easy to get the leadership back where it belongs. Only a fool would continue to buck a man with so much influence and leadership ability. I would be jealous also if I was trying to take away a leadership position from such an apparent natural. Just say you are sorry Mr. Ashe and start helping the powerful momentum which has been worked so hard for by Terry and his many friends. There are many political jobs out there in which it is common for infighting to be a big part of it, but the higher arts are not a place for such ideas and conflicts….although I do agree with the comment about making a screen play out of the story…and let it play out to a great ending in everyone working toward the same goal.
As a literature professor, I have taken literally hundreds of college students to see performances at Karamu House. Terrence Spivey has been such a major supporter of this effort to get suburban college kids to experience high-quality, relevant, important theater. Terrence made many personal visits to campus in order to speak to students and to bring the world of theater to life. His vision, enthusiasm, energy, and outreach are vital to ensure Karamu’s continued success. Karamu needs Terrence Spivey.
Thanks for the inside story Ms Pantsios. It reads like a script’s summary aching to be made into a great play, like life mimicing art and great liturature: like the story of Joseph and his hating, lying brothers who sold him into slavery, delivering him to destiny.
I challenge the Karamu Board of Directors to use its authority to protect, proclaim and even expand the mission and vision of this precious jewel at the corner of East 89th & Quincy Avenue. Karamu has been an oasis of culture, art and education to a countless number of people who’ve grown up in the Fairfax neighborhood, fledgling artists of all races and creeds from all over Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and I’m not just talking about the known stars Karamu has birthed and nurtured over the years.
Mr. Spivey, as Artistic Director, must be given the priority and tools he needs to continue his artistic acheivements. The theatre arts is Karamu’s primary identity.
Did you say Karamu is approaching its centennial existence? The year 2015? Karamu board, act upon your authority to assure Karamu’s glory continues to bless this city another 100 years.
Michael Oatman and Terrence Spivey get to dreaming and writing, here’s a story just yearning to to be told.
After reading the last few comment and their praise of Terrance Spivey I fine myself heart felt for him and I prey that thought of going somewhere else never cross his mine. My family had been great supporters of Karamu for many year, having said that I ask myself who is Ray Marone and why do he care so much for this guy. Well when I first meet Terrance he give me a vibe of being one of the nice’s person on earth, you know like God talks about in the Bible, one with patient and understanding. It is so hard to fine someone like him to help lead us, and he has proven to be a leader in our theater. He kind of remind me of Artistic Director Mike Malone. And the way I see him work I wish he could have work with some of the actor/actress that I had the pleasure of working with, as in Bill Cobb/ Minnie Gintrey/ Rod Oneal/ Margrette Taylor Ford/ Jean Hawkins/ Tammu Blackwell and so many more and not to for get the all great Stage Craft Master Art Worley and of couse Hank Marone himself ( Father). I can remember attending the Day Care back in the 60’s and then going on to take up Ballet in the late 60’s early 70’s and then acting and guitar along with modern dancing with Perl Johnson and later Memie Johnson. Oh I had a ball in Karamu, when learning to work the sound both and learning stage managing also some of the great that come thought Karamu House. So when I view Mr. Spivey I see a greatness like I did before.The Executive Director, I prey will have wisdom to know theatrical talent that one can’t afford to late slip away from this great inc. that we have become. So what ever difference you might have, it’s time put away and focus on the talented fun that we all know and love. I WILL BE PREYING FOR KARAMU HOUSE AND IT’S FUTURE.
Let me speak the truth and facts real quick. When I worked at Karamu they robbed Peter to pay Paul. The support from funders was more than enough to run the place and cover the theater season. Karamu had funds for marketing, but would misuse the grants to cover other expenses. The Accountant was always changing reports, but would type the changes on the documents instead of using the computer.
The theater was never 100% supported because the funds that were allocated for the theater was strict, but Vivian Wilson would adjust number to make Terrance Terrence Spivey look bad when it came to reflecting on theater attendance, For funders she would adjust the numbers to get the grant support.
At the time I was present PNC Bank gave $12,500 for new computers for the Daycare. The staff made a decision to only use $500 of that and purchase old refurbished computers. The remaining $12,000 was miss sourced and the Executive Greg Ashe at the time received the funds as a bonus.
It is sad that 13 people were let go and the daycare parents were informed last minute about the changes.
Karamu is supported by The Cleveland Foundation, AT&T, Chase Bank, The City of Cleveland and various other funding source.
The situation that occured it deeper than the surface do not believe everything you read! I believe Tony Sias let Terrance Spivey go for far more personal reasons.
It will not be another 15 years for Karamu until they can get the right people onboard that has a vision and can truly manage funding.