Research Catalog

Interview with Hope Clarke.

Title
Interview with Hope Clarke. April 20, 24, and 25 2017
Author
Clarke, Hope, 1941-
Publication
2017.

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AudioSupervised use *MGZMT 3-3362Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors
Waters, Sylvia
Description
3 streaming files (approximately approximately 4 hours and 55 minutes) : digital +
Summary
  • Streaming audio file 1, April 20, 2017 (approximately one hour and 37 minutes). Hope Clarke speaks with Sylvia Waters about her childhood in Washington (D.C.) including her early dance classes and teachers; working as a summer employee for the Central Intelligence [Agency]; auditioning in New York City for the musical West Side Story and being cast for the touring production; her impressions of Jerome Robbins; returning with the show to New York City; more (briefly) on the tour; joining the Los Angeles production of West Side Story; coaching Dorothy Dandridge in West Side Story; joining Katherine Dunham's company [Katherine Dunham Dance Company] including her impressions of Katherine Dunham; an anecdote about injuring her toes and Dunham's remedy; Dunham's being engaged by Marcello Mastroianni to work on a theatrical production [Ciao, Rudy] and Clarke's experience rehearsing Mastroianni; the reasons Dunham was fired; more on Dunham; Talley Beatty and her experience dancing for him; joining Alvin Ailey's company [Alvin Ailey Dance Theater]; touring internationally with the company; Vinnette Carroll and the musical Don't bother me, I can't cope including Carroll's inability ever to be satisfied with her (Carroll's) work; moving to California to try acting, with the urging and help of Raymond St. Jacques.
  • Streaming file audio 2, April 24, 2017 (approximately one hour and 37 minutes). Hope Clarke speaks with Sylvia Waters about her transition from performing primarily in theaters to acting in commercials and film, including how Raymond St. Jacques helped her during this period; differences in the cultural landscape in Los Angeles from that of New York including the relative lack of live theater; the Blaxploitation films including Amen; the film A piece of the action, including her impressions of Bill Cosby; an anecdote about her attempt to get an audition for The Bill Cosby show; filming Book of Numbers in Dallas, Texas; the strict division between the actors and the production and creative teams; conflicts between actors and producers as the Blaxploitation film genre fell out of favor; Norman Lear and the television series Maude; his unsuccessful Broadway show Moony Shapiro; the play Fly and how this brought her into contact with former Tuskegee airmen; the necessity of being open to all kinds of roles given the relative lack of work outside of Blaxploitation films; an anecdote about an audition in which she had to play with a lion and then a tiger; co-starring with Sidney Poitier as the highpoint of her Hollywood career; returning to New York to work on the musical Grind with Lester Wilson; the film Basquiat including her impressions of the director Julian Schnabel; her interpretation of her role, as [Jean-Michel] Basquiat's mother [Waters reminisces about Basquiat]; working with Jeffrey Wright; more on working in Los Angeles including how much she learned there; working with Felton Perry in the television series Hill Street Blues including the scene when he "kills" her; working as a choreographer including her 10 plays for George Wolfe, beginning with Wolfe's play The colored museum; the challenges of choreographing a musical.
  • Streaming file audio 3, April 25, 2017 (approximately one hour and 41 minutes). Hope Clarke speaks with Sylvia Waters about her long relationship with horses, in particular their therapeutic effect on herself and others; the whole-scale cancellation of television shows centered on African-Americans; returning to New York to work with Lester Wilson on the 1985 musical Grind; the problems with the show; her decision to remain in New York; George Wolfe as a person and as an artist; the musical Jelly's last jam including how she came to be the choreographer instead of Otis Sallid; more on Sallid including his being fired from the musical Smokey Joe's cafe; Lester Wilson; the boost to her career from choreographing Jelly's Last jam; (briefly) Gregory Hines and his changes to the show; Clarke's family; reflections on her career overall and her (self-described, assertive) personality; more on Bill Cosby; other musicals she choreographed including Grey Gardens and Caroline or change including Clarke's remarks on Tonya Pinkins and her singing; (very briefly) her thoughts on Spike Lee; playing Martha in Bill Duke's Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf; her admiration for British actors; African-American women who have succeeded in film and television including Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes; her relationship with her father; reasons she did not have children; New Beginnings Theater, the company she recently co-founded with Carmen De Lavallade and Michael Blake; her unsuccessful attempts (so far) to create a work using the music of the musical group, The Temptations; (briefly) Martha Clarke; Paradigm and Gus Solomons jr including the challenge for her of post-modern dance; Waters tells an anecdote about Robert Battle choreographing a work for Gus Solomons jr.
Alternative Title
  • Dance oral history project
  • Dance audio archive
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Sound recordings.
  • Oral histories.
Note
  • Interview with Hope Clarke conducted by Sylvia Waters, on April 20, 24, and 25, 2017, at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division Oral History Project.
  • For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3362.
  • As of March 2023, the audio recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The audio files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming on site only at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
  • Sound quality is very good.
  • Title supplied by cataloger.
Access (note)
  • Acess only on-site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
  • Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.
Funding (note)
  • The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Call Number
*MGZMT 3-3362
OCLC
1059465342
Author
Clarke, Hope, 1941- interviewee.
Title
Interview with Hope Clarke. April 20, 24, and 25 2017
Imprint
2017.
Type of Content
spoken word
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
audio
Type of Carrier
online resource
volume
Digital File Characteristics
audio file
Restricted Access
Acess only on-site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.
Event
Recorded for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts April 20, 24, and 25 New York (N.Y.)
Funding
The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Connect to:
Added Author
Waters, Sylvia, interviewer.
Research Call Number
*MGZMT 3-3362
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