A CWRU Perspective
Florence Kodidek Dwyer's student research paper includes detailed research which is supported by photographs, newspaper clippings, interviews, and additional resources. To see how these documents appeared on specific pages, click on the page above. To flip through her project, click here.
Florence Kodidek Dwyer
Florence Kodidek Dwyer received her B.A. from Cleveland College of Western Reserve University in 1950, and her M.A. from the Graduate School of Western Reserve University in 1957. In 1956, she was enrolled in a Sociology graduate course titled "The American Negro." Her work for this course, under Dr. Newbell Niles (N. N.) Puckett, resulted in an extensive student research paper titled "The Gilpin Players of Karamu Theatre."
Her project provides important insight into the long history of Karamu Theatre, and its relationships with important community figures and institutions. She begins with the Jelliffes, who she personally interviewed while researching her project. Russell and Rowena Jellifes came to Cleveland in 1915 to "do something for the neighborhood" and to confront the growing race problem. Both white, Russell and Rowena felt that "racial prejudice is the weakest link in the Domcratic chain." They came to Cleveland to with the hopes of doing "a practical job for American Democracy." Kodidek Dwyer adds, "Since democracy meant all people must live together in harmony, [the Jelliffes] also developed the belief that 'if a little attention were given to developing harmony among people some of the friction among them could be eliminated.'"
Kodidek Dwyer follows the history of the Jelliffes' project from its beginnings as a community space to its development into a theatre, and its overall progress as a theatre until the late 1950s.
"The New Karamu"
Chapter 7 of Kodidek Dwyer's research paper is titled "The New Karamu." It begins with a discussion of the fire at Karamu House that destroyed the property, which Dorothy Paxton includes in her scrapbook. This fire was considered a "two-alarm fire" and was "of undetermined origin." It had started in the baseemnt, which had served as the Children's playroom, and "within one hour the ramshackle buildings were consumed" and destroyed.
Despite the destruction, the Jelliffes remained optimistic. They announced that the Gilpin Players would go ahead with their season, which consisted of six productions. The Gilpin Players' were offered the Brooks Theatre by the Play House's director, Frederic McConnnell, for their next production.
Of this temporary relocation, Kodidek Dwyer writes: "Director McConnell's generous offer to use the Brooks Theatre was a blessing in disguise. The Gilpin Players had formerly been cramped for space and never had the proper equipment or wing spread their talents deserved. With the use of the Brooks Theatre and its splendid equipment, they now could attempt more elaborate productions and more people's attention would be focused on them and to the fine work of the Karamu Theatre. Karamu was indeed a definite force in the cultural aspect of Cleveland and the Gilpin Players dramatic organization was regarded as second only to the Play House group itself."
The Gilpin Players performed Paxton's play, "It's Better Fo' to Sing" in the Brooks Theatre. Kodidek Dwyer describes it as an interesting production, and notes that Rowena Jelliffes directed "with great skill and appreciative understanding." It was Paxton's first play, and it focused on the Deep South of her upbringing. It was set in a small levee town on the Mississippi River, and focused on "penniless, happy-golucky Negroes who did washing for 'the white folks' int he Big House." It also incorproated traditional music.
Paxton never saw the drama performed, as she was acting in the Play House's production of "Our Town" at the Drury Theatre. The movement between these two productions is reflected in Paxton's scrapbook.
After the run of "It's Better Fo' to Sing" ended, the Gilpin Players were invited to perform their next production at Western Reserve University's Eldred Hall.