A BRIDGE TOWARD PROGRESS

CENTRAL’S FIRST ALL-BLACK CAST PERFORMS HISTORY

WRITTEN BY SARAH NEESE, PHOTOS BY LAUREN BIERI AND KT KING

NEARLY 100 YEARS AGO, AT THE HEIGHT of the Harlem Renaissance, the music of Thomas “Fats” Waller floated through any number of venues. As one of the most popular performers of the era, Waller’s music and performances laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. The first African American songwriter to compose a Broadway musical seen mostly by white audiences, Waller was known for his big personality and joyous performing style.

Waller’s style isn’t easily replicated, but the cast of Central’s production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” managed to embody the essence of his testimony of the Black experience through their powerful performances on stage.

UCO musical theatre students Caleb Barnett, Erica Burkett, Jaylon Crump and Caprie Gordon were joined by UCO alumna JaLeesa Beavers as they performed the musical revue as the first all-Black cast in Central’s history.

Central’s production featured direction from UCO alumna Erin Clemons, an actress who has performed on Broadway in roles such as Éponine in “Les Misérables” and as each of the Schuyler sisters in “Hamilton.”

Named after a Waller song of the same name, “Ain’t Misbehavin’” opened in 1978 in New York City. During the show, five performers sing a selection of songs that encapsulates the various moods of the Harlem Renaissance era and reflects on Waller’s view of life – a journey for both pleasure and play.

The music in the show is complex and requires performers to sing their own parts on top of one another, with perfect harmonies, within a small cast. But beyond mastering the challenges of the music, this run’s cast navigated the unique experience of being the first all-Black cast at UCO and what that meant for each of them.

“I feel like this is a bridge towards progress. I don’t feel like we’re all the way there yet, but I feel like this is the bridge,” Crump said.

“We’re grateful for this opportunity. I feel like because it’s such a small cast, it gives us all a chance to be showcased in a sense where people can see us as individuals. I feel like at least everyone in our cast is getting a chance to showcase their talents in ways that other shows may not be able to let us showcase them.”

As an alumna, Beavers became a clear mentor for the rest of the cast.

“The biggest thing I’ve gotten from JaLeesa is wisdom,” Crump said.

“I feel like literally every single thing that comes out of JaLeesa’s mouth I just soak it up like a sponge. She’s so wise. I feel like she has a spirit of an 80-year-old Black woman.”

“It just helps to have an alumni,” Gordon added. “There aren’t many

Black alumni [in the program], so we really appreciate JaLeesa is here for us and willing to share her experience and talk about her time here and the changes she’s seen.”

Since her time at Central, nearly ten years ago, Beavers feels that changes have been made in the industry but that there’s still room to grow.

“When I left, I honestly never thought anything like this would happen. It wasn’t a possibility then,” she said.

“My concern always is, as someone who is out in the professional world and goes into audition spaces and casting spaces and seeing how often Black artists are marginalized within spaces, just for them to be able to have an experience like this, before they go out into the world. My hope and prayer has always been that this would be a healing experience for them and a healing experience for me, as someone who did struggle being a speck in a sea of white while in school and who is still often a speck in a sea of white within the industry.”

For Crump, these connections with Beavers and Clemens, the production’s director, are invaluable.

“I think it’s just inspiring just talking to JaLeesa and Erin. Like me, just as a college student, looking at professionals who are people of color who have made their way in this business and know the ins and outs and know all kinds of things about the business as people of color,” he said. “I feel like it’s very inspiring for me to look at them.”

Burkett was quick to echo Crump’s sentiment.

“I feel like having JaLeesa here gave us all this invisible anchor, and it kind of let us know that we had somebody there for us who understood what we feel,” she said. “Having her here has just really been comforting and consoling because I can talk. I can speak.”

According to Beavers, this type of mentorship and open dialogue is the key to introducing and upholding equity in performance spaces.

“So often, especially for Black folks, we don’t know how to go out into the world and be able to speak to things. In the industry, there are so many opportunities for people to traumatize you, for people to abuse you,” she said.

“How do we create a safe space as actors and as performers to be able to rally together collectively and say, ‘No. This is not acceptable. This is not allowed. We will not work in these kinds of environments.’ I think the only way to be able to do that is for mentors who have been in the business to be able to reach to people and say, ‘Come on. Take my hand. We’re halfway there. Let’s just figure this out together.’ Everybody can feel as safe as possible, and everyone can work together.”

While the cast notes there are challenges that come with making this kind of history, they also recognize the joy the show represents.

“The show, in general, is not all about the bad,” Crump said. “I feel like this show celebrates the joy of the Black experience. It’s not all oppression and bad. People had fun. People went out to jazz clubs. There are so many different story lines throughout the show, because it’s a musical revue. Each song tells a different story.”

And that story deserves to be told.

“Now is the time and the place for us to speak up and say the things that need to be said and things need to be done for the people after us to have a better experience than we did,” Crump said.

“One thing we’ve learned throughout the process is to not be victims. Even when we don’t want to do it, even when we’re at our wit’s end, we all learned how to not be victims, and I feel like that’s something that we’re going to carry through us throughout our lives.”