Karan Kendrick With Plenty of “Hattitude” | DryerBuzz.com ArcHives
October 26, 2003
Rebuzzed from the BuzzArcHives – October 2003 (approximately)
It’s not Rapture, but people are disappearing every night, leaving their work close where they fall. They dawn their Sunday best and head out to see “Crowns” now playing at the Alliance Theatre.
Adapted as a stage play, complete with gospel music, storytelling and plenty of hattitude, Atlanta get ready to celebrate our history of hats. Crowns is written and directed by Regina Taylor (I’ll Fly Away) and is based on the best-selling book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry.
Crowns will take us on a journey of southern heritage as the main character, Yolanda, experiences generations of black women and their church hats. The stories build a bridge between her cotemporary urban life and the women of the past who made a way for her.
Now at the Alliance Theatre until November, Crowns provides another opportunity to experience the inspirational talent of Karan Kendrick, whom we first buzzed about in her role in last season’s St. Lucy’s Eyes with the wonderful Ruby Dee.
We caught up with Ms. Kendrick one morning before rehearsals to spread the buzz about her role as Jeanette in Crowns, her roots in Georgia, and her talent and inspirations.
Buzz: DryerBuzz first buzzed about you and the wonderful and emotional role you played in St. Lucy’s Eyes with Ruby Dee. What’s different about the character in that role and the preparation for the role you play in Crowns?
Karan: Wow! St. Lucy’s Eyes was about women in trouble and Woman, my character, she was, in a sense, a troubled spirit. She was at a crossroads in her life and making bad choices just really trying to survive. In “Crowns”, Jeanette, is completely different. She’s a flirt. She’s had life experiences and come out on top. She’s a fighter and she really enjoys life. That I think is the major difference.
Buzz: We equate the history of the hats with church and Sunday mornings. Besides the church, where will this journey of hattitude take us?
Karan: In the unfolding of the story, we go to different places. We go to a traditional ring shout, which is indigenous of the Gullah culture. We go to Africa and to our own childhood. We are on a journey and that journey takes us many places around the globe.
Buzz: I am always in awe and amazed just by whom you can find on an Alliance stage. The theatre community in Atlanta is so strong and full of talent. On that level, is there anyone in the play that you may have hoped for a chance to work with?
Karan: Everybody! I came into the project being very familiar with Regina Taylor and just very impressed with the way she thinks about things. I feel very fortunate to not only be directed by her and to act out her words, but just to see her in actions. To see how she maneuvers through the piece and how she directs and works on a daily basis. We have in the play, Lynda Gravatt (Mabel), Gail Grate (Wanda) who’s an Obie Award-winning actress, Tina Fabrique (Mother Shaw) who’s done Bring in da Noise/Funk on Broadway. We have Desire’ DuBose (Yolanda), we have worked with some of the same people. I have heard really great things about her. There’s also John Steven Crowley (Preacher/Man) and Bernadine Mitchell (Velma). You got to really earn your place on stage next to Bernadine Mitchell. So its just a cast full of extraordinary artist and beautiful spirits. It’s an experience where you walk into the room and there is a really good vibe. Of course, Dianne McIntyre our choreographer, whom I worked with in college as a student and now to be able to work with her as an artist. It is just really nice for all of this to come together.
Buzz: Let us talk about your Georgia roots and how it feels to be able to do what you love to do so close to home? I know we like to claim you as being from Atlanta, but where exactly are your origins?
Karan: If I say I am from Atlanta, I will get in trouble in Fort Valley. I’m from Fort Valley and went to school at Spelman in Atlanta. It’s great always to be in Atlanta. Atlanta is definitely a place where I learned so much and met many wonderful people. In a difference sense, this is where I grew up, became a young woman and began to experience life and theatre. So to be able to then be here and work here and to be able to do work at a good theatre working with great people, what more can you ask for. So even though I am from Fort Valley, Atlanta feels very much like home, especially in terms of the Arts.
Buzz: Tell me what you would like to see of the audience coming to see the play in terms of families and generations?
Karan: My biggest dream for this show is that women like the ones I grew up with, the women, the church mothers, aunts, play aunts and neighbors get on a huge bus with their wonderful crowns and just come filing in the theatre and no body behind them can see the show.
Buzz: I was excited to find out there was a book that played tribute to the history of the hats. Now there is the play Crowns dedicated to something that as kids growing up, we might have thought it to be inconsequential , but it was a part of us. Now to see the tribute brought to it in the play, how does that feel?
Karan: I think it speaks to the spirit of Ms. Taylor as a writer, the Alliance Theatre as a producing company, and then to us as a community to be able to have a piece of who we are experienced and realized so beautifully and celebrated. My mother is a deaconess, she sits on the first row with her hat. It does sway side to side, bobs up and down and the hats really do tell a story. So to be able to be in a piece that celebrates who we are is a beautiful thing.
Buzz: I often get emails about how a story has reached someone in the place where they were at a certain moment. Or someone will ask how did they get to that point of achievement. Often times we look at the achievement, not looking at the road it takes to get there, so what would be your advice as to how long it takes to get there?
Karan: It takes as long as it takes. I think everyone has a journey and a path that they take. I have classmates from undergrad who’s all working but took very different roads to get to where we are. I wouldn’t trade paths and they wouldn’t trade theirs, because there are things along the way that prepare you for the next step. You just have to trust that where you are is where you are suppose to be and really believe. Release and surrender to all that other stuff and be in that moment. As a Christian, I just believe the Holy Spirit guides me. As long as I am true to that, then I’m where I am suppose to be. When I try to do it myself — it falls apart.
In terms of paying dues, my first show at the Alliance was in ’99. I am sure many of you did not see it for it was a school tour. It was 6 a.m. call for an 8 o’clock show to a gymnasium full of students who could care less about what we were talking about. But the work was still important, still life changing and still honoring people who need to be honored. I think no matter where you are, call it paying dues, we just have to really be about why we are doing what we are doing. Maybe my being here is [paying dues] for something else. One of my mentors once said “when you’re acting, it is a conversation with God, and other people are just listening in on that conversation.
Buzz: For some Crowns will bring an audience that may experience “theatre” for the first time. Just a couple of years ago, I ended up at Alliance trying to satisfy a class requirement and simply fell in love with the theatre. Later I remember watching you in St. Lucy’s eyes and then interviewing you afterwards. All I could think of was the emotion you had to go through on stage and then to see you so happy and carefree afterwards. I know I came out of the theatre still carrying that emotion. What is it to be an actor and to tell a story like that, but to be able to be yourself again afterwards?
Karan: That’s why study, go to school and learn your craft. That is the whole concept of training and preparing. The other process is of being able to let go. You could really be crazy if you take on all these characters and keep them and never release them. So me personally, especially Lucy’s Eyes, it was kind of heavy and I think some nights were harder than others. But at the end of the day, you have to say ok I have done my job and it is the end of the day. Just like you with DryerBuzz, some time you have to put that story down and move on, you have a life to live, bills to pay, I think its the same thing.
Buzz: Finally, are you and the cast having fun with Crowns and tell me about your new hattitude?
Karan: We are having a great time. It’s going to be a whole lot of fun. I have picked up wearing hats. I was letting my hair grow out, but after getting cast, I cut it short again, and now almost everyday I have on a hat. I wear them casually. After the audition for this show, I went and bought myself a crown.
Karan Kendrick, the Alliance Theatre and DryerBuzz is giving you a chance to experience Crowns up close and personal as special guest for an evening at the theatre. Starting Monday, October 13, 2003 until Friday, October 17th, we’re giving away a pair of tickets for the play and backstage passes to a lucky email winner to meet Karan Kendrick . To be entered into the drawing, click the icon below or email DryerBuzz at info@dryerbuzz.com
Update Posted October 14, 2003: “Crowns” is a must see. An outstanding performance by all cast members. David Pleasant (Percussion, Traps, Guitar, & Harmonica) and e’Marcus Harper (Piano) are an added bonus and provide the [soul and sound] of the ensemble. Truly a performance all generations must see and share. I am amazed by the writing and direction of Regina Taylor. This exploration into the history of hats tells a deeper story about the journey we’ve taken and how we can find tremendous meaning and history in the simplest of things we treasure.
