The Classical Theatre of Harlem

A Request from EarlE Hyman

Support the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Annual Appeal

I've been acting for 63 years. I have never done anything else. It started when I was sitting in a church pew watching a Christmas pageant, and I saw my mother coming down the aisle dressed as Mary—carrying baby Jesus—a white doll, of course. She wouldn't even look at me. She wasn't my mother, she was Mary. I knew then. Something grabbed me and never let me go.  Then at age thirteen, I saw a production of Ibsen's Ghosts at the Brighton Beach Theatre and when the curtain went up I knew that I would do whatever I had to do to be on that stage, even if it meant sweeping it, which fortunately did not prove necessary.

Five short years later at the age of seventeen I made my stage debut in the Broadway production of Run, Little Chillun. Over the next six decades I've played everything from Solness in Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre production of Ibsen's The Master Builder to Vladimir in Herbert Berghof's all-black production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, not to mention being the first Black actor to play all four of the Shakespeare giants: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear.  On television, I played James Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night with Ruby Dee, but am perhaps best know for Russell Huxtable, the father of Bill Cosby's character on The Cosby Show. 

Please join me in supporting the award winning Classical Theatre of Harlem as they celebrate their Tenth Anniversary, an occasion that I think best summed-up by Shakespeare, "O, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! And yet again wonderful..." 

Please consider making an online donation now.

As an African-American actor who started his career in 1943, I know there has been a dearth of opportunities for actors of color to play roles in classic stage works. But endurance is a must; if you endure wonderful things happen.  

Sixty years after I started my career, I read about a theatre company dedicated to presenting the classics in Harlem and simply said "wow" and knew that I needed to be part of it. That company, which is standing on the shoulders of many, is the Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH.) Over the past four years I have enjoyed an ongoing collaboration with CTH performing as Firs in Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Creon in Medea and this February will return to CTH in another of Chekhov's masterpieces, Three Sisters. In all of these productions I had the opportunity to work with immensely talented and passionate young actors many of whom are just beginning their careers and struggling, as I had many years before, with the dearth of opportunities to perform in classical work.  

Artists at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, many of whom are classically trained at preeminent conservatories such as NYU, Yale and Juilliard, have remarked that without CTH they might never have the opportunity to perform in Chekhov or Moliere, much less in leading roles. CTH casts African American actors not occasionally, not as supernumeraries, but consistently in major roles, such as Medea, Hamlet and King Lear, and not only in cultural transpositions of plays, but in faithful productions where their race is not a qualifying issue.  

CTH has also helped preserve our American theatrical legacy through the production of national treasures from the African American canon including the works of Adrienne Kennedy, Langston Hughes, Melvin Van Peebles, Derek Walcott, Douglas Turner Ward, August Wilson, Richard Wright and later this season, Paul Carter Harrison.   

In theses challenging economic times and with the radically expensive cost of producing professional theatre, it is critically important to support efforts like the Classical Theatre of Harlem.  An annual membership to CTH, 3 plays for $90, is less than the cost of an orchestra seat at any Broadway theatre. 

The Classical Theatre of Harlem cannot endure without the support of individuals like you! 

Please consider making an online donation now.

Your tax-deductible gift will ensure that CTH continues mounting plays that provide magnificent opportunities to artists while providing a place where the classics, theatricality, provocative ideas, and entertainment converge! 

Sincerely yours,   
Earle Hyman