Hope Clarke (born March 23, 1941) is an American actress, dancer, vocalist, choreographer, and director. Clarke, a Tony Award nominee, made history in 1995 when she became the first African-American, as well as the first African-American woman, to direct and choreograph a major staging of the classic opera, Porgy and Bess. Clarke began her career as a principal dancer with the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and as an actress appeared in many stage, film, and television productions. As a choreographer, Clarke is credited with staging and movement for more than 30 shows on and off Broadway.

Early life and education

A native of Washington, D.C., Clarke took dance classes with her sister at the Alma Davis Dance School, and as a senior in high school, she was a lead dancer with Doris Jones' company in DC. Clarke worked as a summer employee for the Central Intelligence [Agency]. She grew up in a middle class Black community, a place where people shopped through mail-order catalogues in order to purchase clothes offered in stores where they were not welcomed. “The black community, as I remember it, was very closely knit," Clarke said in the San Francisco Examiner: "Before the fabric of this society was torn by racism and lack of education, we all took care of each other. We all watched each other's children."

Career

West Side Story to Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope

In 1959, Clarke landed a role in the original touring cast of West Side Story. At the urging of her sister, she auditioned for the role, got it, and joined the touring company while it was in Chicago, and remained in the cast until April 23, 1960. In 1961, Clarke appeared in the interracial love story Kwamina starring Brock Peters and Robert Guillaume, and featuring the choreography of Agnes de Mille. In 1967, she played a minor role and was part of the ensemble in Hallelujah, Baby!, which received five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In 1966, Clarke appeared in the Metropolitan Opera's first production, Antony and Cleopatra. In 1968, she played Mamselle Tulip in the House of Flowers at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. In 1969, Clarke had a role in Douglas Turner Ward’s “The Reckoning” at the St. Mark’s Playhouse, an off-off Broadway theater that showcased the work of the Negro Ensemble Company. In 1970, Clarke was a dancer in “Purlie,” a musical that nominated for five Tony Awards. In 1972, she was in the musical “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” which was the first Broadway musical to be directed by an African American woman, Vinnette Carroll.

Alvin Ailey, Katherine Dunham, and 5 Plus

Clarke served as a principal dancer in the Katherine Dunham Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In the Ailey company, she toured internationally and received positive reviews and audience ovations. In addition to dancing with Dunham and Ailey, Clarke performed with the companies of Tally Beatty, George Faison, and Louis Johnson. Clarke, along with Michael Blake, Carmen de Lavallade, Sheila Rohan, and others, co-founded the former 5 Plus Ensemble (New Beginnings Theater), a dance company created to showcase the work of dancers, choreographer, and musicians who are older than the age of 50.

Film and Television

After appearing on Broadway and around the world as a dancer, Clarke moved to Hollywood, California with the help of actor and friend Raymond St. Jacques. Her most memorable film roles were co-starring with Sidney Poitier in A Piece of the Action (1977); working with St. Jacques and Philip Michael Thomas on the A Book of Numbers' set in Dallas; and portraying Jean-Michel Basquiat's mother, Matilde, in Basquiat (1996). Clarke has had a variety of guest roles on tv shows, such as Hill Street Blues, Amen, Another World, As the World Turns, Beat Street, Hart to Hart, Into the Night, The Jeffersons, The Ropers, Sex and the City, Three's Company. She appeared in the TV miniseries King (1978), which was based upon the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader.

Grind, A Tony Nomination, and Fly

In 1985, Clarke played “Ruby” in the musical Grind and worked with Lester Wilson. In 1992, Clarke earned a Tony Award nomination for “Best Choreography” for her work in the 1992 Broadway hit Jelly's Last Jam. The show grew from New York workshops and a Los Angeles production at the Mark Taper Forum to a Broadway show. In 1995, Clarke choreographed “The Tempest.” In November 2003, she started work on Caroline, or Change, a musical that features spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music and Jewish Klezmer. Clarke was responsible for the choreography of the show that began as an Off-Broadway production, received a Broadway production of 126 performances in 2004, received six Tony Award nominations, and had a two-month run at the Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre in London, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. In 2010, Clarke choreographed A Free Man of Color, and in 2017, she choreographed, Fly, a play about the Tuskegee Airmen. The show was produced by the Lincoln Center Institute and toured to several venues, including Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, and Crossroads Theatre.

Collaborations with George C. Wolfe

After George C. Wolfe hired Clarke to create movement and staging for The Colored Museum, the pair have collaborated on 10 plays, including the opera Amistad, the Off-Broadway play, Spunk, and Broadway shows Caroline, Or Change, A Free Man of Color, and Jelly's Last Jam, which earned Clarke a Tony Award nomination.

Porgy & Bess: The Opera

In 1995, Clarke directed the Houston Grand Opera production of Porgy & Bess, the first African American to stage a major professional U.S. staging of “Porgy and Bess. Regarded as America’s greatest opera, the two million dollar Houston Grand production toured throughout the United States, as well as performances in Italy and Japan. In 2012, Clarke directed a Morgan State University production of Porgy & Bess at the Murphy Fine Arts Center.

Quotable

Honors and Awards

Credits

Stage

TV and Film