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Karamu House, Inc. News

Celebrities James Pickens Jr. and Kym Whitley to Host Karamu House 2008 Hall of Fame Induction on June 28

CLEVELAND, May 7 PRNewswire — ABC-TV's "Grey's Anatomy" actor James Pickens Jr. and versatile entertainer Kym Whitley will co-host the 3rd Annual Karamu House Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on June 28 at 6 p.m. in the newly opened and avant-garde restaurant, 20/20 in the Flats.

Pickens and Whitley, both Clevelanders and Karamu alumni, will travel to Cleveland from Los Angeles, where they have successful careers in the entertainment industry. The performers are returning to their hometown to help the city honor fellow Karamu alumni, many of whom have reached national and international acclaim on stage and behind the scenes.

"So much history is contained within Karamu's walls," said Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones. "It is a privilege to serve once again as the chairman of an event that has not only proven to be the performing arts center's major annual fundraiser but has also become the primary means of sharing Karamu's rich legacy with the broader community."

"If These Walls Could Talk" is the theme of this year's event, which will pay tribute to:

— Actor Al Fann in the National Legend-Living category — Playwright Langston Hughes (National Legend-Posthumous) — Actor Jean \"Granny\" Hawkins (Local Legend-Living) — Directors Benno Frank and Helmuth Wolfes (Local Legends-Posthumous) — R. Joyce Whitley (Fine Arts) — U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Benefactor) — Ken Snipes (Administrator) — Actor Katrice Monee Headd will receive the \"On the Rise\" award, an honor reserved for the next generation of Karamu stars.

A weekend of homecoming activities is planned around the induction ceremony beginning on Friday, June 27, with an alumni reunion at Karamu. On Saturday, Pickens, Whitley and other esteemed alumni will field audience questions from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Karamu during "Inside the Performer's Dressing Room." NewsNet 5 anchor Danita Harris Pratt will moderate the free event.

Tickets to the induction ceremony are available by calling Vivian C. Wilson at 216.795.7070, ext. 215, or by visiting Karamu's Web site at www.karamu.com .

Karamu holds the honor as the country's oldest multicultural theater and can trace its humble origins to 1915, when founders Russell and Rowena Jelliffe acted upon a revolutionary idea considered absurd by many.

The Jelliffes married shortly after graduating from the progressive Oberlin College, located just west of downtown Cleveland. They each dreamed of using the fine arts as a vehicle for promoting interracial understanding, engendering respect for different cultures and the cornerstone for creating a venue where artists of all nationalities could perform without deference to race, creed or color.

The white couple's vision, extraordinary during a period of widely accepted segregation, led to the creation of Karamu, a Swahili word meaning "a place of joyful gathering." Located in an urban community, the joyful gathering place is now home to a world-renowned theater and offers additional services, including an early childhood development center, after-school programs, cultural and arts education outreach and senior citizen activities.

SOURCE Karamu House, Inc.

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