Hope Clarke

At 83 years old, Hope Clarke physical status not available right now. We will update Hope Clarke's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Hope Clarke, born March 23, 1941, is an American actor, dancer, singer, choreographer, and producer.

Clarke appeared as principal dancer with the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1960s; actress on stage, film, and television, 1970s-1980s; choreographer and director 1980s--

Clarke served on the 2011–12 Broadway Nomination Committee for the 2011–12 season.

Clarke made history by becoming the first African American woman, as well as the first African-American woman, to conduct and choreograph a major staging of the opera-musical Porgy and Bess in 1995.

Clarke's production of the George Gershwin masterpiece was staged in honor of the work's 60th anniversary, and it went to not only major American cities but also Japan and Europe.

Clarke received critical praise for staging the show as a monument to African-American culture and proud pride, giving the show a more optimistic, hopeful tone to a tale that has been chastised for its stereotypes.

Porgy and Bess' success is just the latest accolade in a long career dedicated to dance and drama, as for the producer herself.

Source

Career

Clarke, who was also raised in New York City, appeared in West Side Story (1960). Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1972), and Grind (1975), choreographed Jelly's Last Jam (1992), for which she was nominated for a Tony and Drama Desk Award, and Caroline, or Change (2004). Clarke went into film and television acting after leaving Alvin Ailey's company in the 1970s. A Piece of the Action (1977) is her most well-known feature film performance. In addition, she appeared in guest appearances on several television drama and comedy series, including The Jeffersons, The Ropers, Hill Street Blues, Three's Company, and As the World Turns. She appeared in the television series King (1978), based on the life and ministry of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and appeared in the television film Seventeen Again (2000).

Clarke was often called on to choreograph various stage and television shows after years as a dancer. "I had bills to pay," she chuckled in Essence. Clarke found ample opportunities to develop her choreographic abilities while working in America and abroad. She appeared in Opera Ebony in New York City, helping to produce Porgy and Bess in such diverse venues as Brazil and Finland. For her appearance in Jelly's Last Jam in 1992, she received a Tony Award nomination for choreography. Clarke choreographed programs as diverse as Dorothy Rudd Moore's Freedom and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cosfan tutte. Clarke's efforts attracted the attention of opera and musical theater executives. David Gockley, the Houston Grand Opera's general director, was one of them. Gockley wanted to produce a complete new touring production of Porgy and Bess, and they needed an African-American director for the project. Clarke was hired, telling the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "I've worked through the ranks, and I was set for this." Clarke, who spoke to Clarke, spoke with him about the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Clarke brought some fresh to the Porgy and Bess tale, which was written by white composer George Gershwin for an all-black cast. Porgy, a snaught woman named Bess, and two troublemakers, Crown and Sporting Life, are central figures in the tale, which takes place in a fictional Charleston, South Carolina suburb called Catfish Row. Although Gershwin's score has always been popular, particularly the ballad "Summertime," the characters and setting have received flak for portraying African Americans in stereotypical ways. Porgy begs for money, Bess takes lovers, Sporting Life sells drugs, and Crown is a murderer.

Clarke knew that she could not tamper with the basic plot and characters in the play, she had nevertheless developed several strategies for presenting the residents of Catfish Row in a more sympathetic light. Porgy and Bess was designed as a celebration of the lives of the South-based Gullahs, an African-American group with the same root as Angolan. "Clarke... fleshed out the opera's Gullah context," critic Kenneth Herman wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "and thereby compensated for some of the lead characters' moral insubriation." She... also made sure that the cast knows how to pronounce Gullah dialect, which the opera's libretto uses."

Clarke was well aware that she was making history by acting as both the artistic director of a large-scale production and also as the show's curator. "I want African Americans who come to see the opera to be proud that an African American is directing... and to honor the performers on stage," she said in the Los Angeles Times. I wanted to create a community that we could find today: It could be any impoverished neighborhood but one with pride." "Everybody works in my production," she said in Opera News. Everybody has some sort of job. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to be slovenly or ignorant." Porgy and Bess' production in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and Minneapolis descended on several major American cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and Minneapolis. It appeared in Japan and in Milan's legendary La Scala opera house. Clarke received a Tony Award for her role on Porgy and Bess.

Clarke stayed on a full schedule in New York City and elsewhere, choreographing many plays and musicals. It is believed that she was able to help other talented artists by her success. Clarke, a 1995 interview in Essence, said: "Blacks and women have been kept out of directing major productions for far too long." It's time for us to not only tell our stories but to direct them."

Source

Awards and recognition

• 1993 - Tony Award (nominated) – for choreography in Jelly's Last Jam
• 1995 - Tony Award (won) – for directing Porgy and Bess.