Some
local playwrights have tried to write a definitive “Cleveland play” in the
past, but many of those efforts have just dissolved into a welter of forced
local references lost in a plotless landscape.
With
the newly-revised version of The Mighty
Scarabs! by Cornell Hubert Calhoun III, now at Karamu House, that string of
unsuccessful attempts has come to a resounding halt. Based on the awesome high
school basketball teams that East Tech spawned in the 1950s, this tight ensemble
production rings true at virtually every moment. And it features at least three
performances you really need to see.
In
this telling, a fictional East Tech “Mighty Scarabs” team had won the Ohio high
school championship in 1955 (they actually won it in ’58 and ’59). Now it’s 13
years later and the stars of that team are still in their Central neighborhood,
around E. 55th. With a couple relegated to run-of-the-mill jobs and
a couple others immersed in the urban cultures of drugs and gambling, the stars
that shone so brightly before graduation have dimmed considerably.
Calhoun’s
script shines brilliantly, etching clear and entertaining portraits of people
who once shared something great. Director Christopher Johnston, in addition to
shaping scenes that pop off the stage, has also cast the show adroitly.
Two
key roles are played by Karamu veterans, and they have never been better.
Prophet Seay plays June Bailey, an actual member of the Might Scarabs and the
person to whom Calhoun has dedicated the play. Seay uses all of his impressive
performing talents to create a fully dimensional character—funny and sly,
foolish and insightful—that anchors the play beautifully.
As
June continually seeks the magical big payday by hitting the numbers, the older
numbers runner Johnny Dollar is there to dole out the often unexpectedly meager
winnings. As Johnny, Rodney Freeman is a hilarious force of nature, sliding
through the neighborhood in his too-tight snakeskin shoes and color-matched
outfits, uttering his personal catch phrase, Goodnight Irene!” with different
inflections to fit any meaning he chooses.
Just
as good as Seay and Freeman is Katrice Headd as Girlena, the former squeeze of
team star Fast Eddie, who was recently killed. Both sensuous and sensible, Headd’s
Girlena is an inner-city queen who still dresses in yellow, Fast Eddie’s
favorite color.
Indeed,
all these characters are living in the past to some degree, and who can blame
them? They were celebrities and, more than that, purveyors of pride and hope to
their neighborhood. That’s a high anyone would have a hard time coming down
from.
The
other ex-players each contribute to the team, er, ensemble. Tyrell Hairston is
sadly amusing as a coke-head, nodding off during a card game, and Titus
Covington as Ricks and Michael Head as “Six-Five” have the look of athletes
gone to seed.
In addition, young Caris Collins handles her part as Girlena’s daughter well,
especially a rapid-fire play-by-play of the championship game’s culminating
moment. And Lauren Sturdivant is both lovely and apparently doomed as the
streetwalker Jamaica.
For
anyone who was around Cleveland in the ‘60s, references to Giant Tiger and
Sealtest, plus many others, will certainly resonate. But it’s the characters
that glow most brightly in The Mighty
Scarabs! And while one might wish for a bit more information about how that
team functioned on court, the work on stage by Freeman, Seay and Headd is like
a smooth dribble weave ending in a slam dunk.
The
Mighty Scarabs!
Through
March 29 at Karamu House, 2355 E. 89th St., 216-795-7077.
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