For more information, contact Susan Griffith, 216-368-1004 or sbg4@po.cwru.edu.

Posted 12-28-99

Alumna returns to star in play at CWRU's Eldred Theater

RaSheryl McCreary will star in the restaging of Cleveland playwright Eric Coble's Truth -- the Testimonial of Sojourner Truth. The one-woman, historical drama will be staged during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend at Case Western Reserve University's Eldred Theater, 2070 Adelbert Road. Performances are at 8 p.m. January 13, 14, and 15, and at 3 p.m. January 16 and 17. Admission is $15, and tickets go on sale January 3.

Coble's depiction of Truth, which the Plain Dealer's Marianne Evett called "powerful," premiered last year during Black History Month at Doboma Theater in Cleveland Heights. Critic Fran Heller from the Cleveland Jewish News described McCreary's interpretation of the life of the 19th century slave -- from her youth through freedom as an adult and leading proponent in the Abolitionist movement -- as "touching and heroic."

The restaging of Truth comes under the direction of McCreary, who received her bachelor's degree in theater arts from CWRU in 1997, and Catherine Albers, CWRU associate professor of theater arts.

Truth is McCreary's third one-woman show and follows performances in Pretty Fire and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. McCreary returned to Cleveland from Los Angeles, where her acting career included television appearances in "A Different World" and the film Talking Dirty After Dark with Martin Lawrence.

Also featured in the production at Eldred will be the original music of Bill Ransom, a percussionist, and movement by Michael Medcalf, the artistic director of the Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater.

Ransom's emotive drumming creates a cacophony of sounds, including running water, wind through trees, and cracking whips to heighten the drama, which opens with a nine-year-old Truth on the auction block.

Ransom has toured and recorded with such R&B artists as Naje', Pam Williams, Kenny Garret (Miles Davis), Gerald LeVert, the O'Jays, and Marion Meadows. He is currently on tour with Atlantic recording artist Beth Hart.

The performance is sponsored by CWRU's Department of Theater Arts, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association, and the Murtis H. Taylor Multi-Service Center.

For ticket reservations, call the Eldred Box Office at 216-368-6262.

xx307@po.cwru.edu -- About this server -- Copyright 1994-2001 CWRU -- Unauthorized use prohibited