C. Bernard Jackson
Encyclopedia
C. Bernard Jackson was an award-winning American playwright who founded the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Inner City was one of the first arts institutions in the United States to promote multiculturalism
. The facility nurtured the careers of numerous performers including Beah Richards
, George Takei
, Edward James Olmos
, Nobu McCarthy
and Forest Whitaker
.
, where he was involved in one of the city's toughest street gangs. Because he was able to speak Spanish, Jackson often served in a diplomatic capacity.
When he enrolled in the High School of Music and Art, Jackson was able to escape the negative influences of his neighborhood and obtain a broader view of the world. He subsequently attended Brooklyn College
and pursued a master's degree in music at UCLA.
for Best Musical the following year.
In the wake of the Watts Riots
, he founded the Inner City Cultural Center in Central Los Angeles. Unlike other arts organizations that catered to one ethnic group or another, Inner City was operated under the concept of multiculturalism
and provided assistance to a wide variety of cultural institutions. This included Luis Valdez
's El Teatro Campesino, the East-West Players and the Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, founded by Carmen Zapata
.
Inner City's multi-cultural approach did not come without criticism from the black artistic community and the mainstream press, despite the fact that Inner City was also the largest producer of black theatre in Los Angeles.
Jackson was also a proponent of non-traditional casting
. For example, in 1975, Inner City produced Maggie The Mouse Meets The Dirty Rat Fink, a Christmas
musical that was written by Jackson. In the production, a black man and woman were cast as the parents of a Japanese daughter and a Chicano son. The following year, Jackson staged, Langston Hughes Said, a musical tribute to the Harlem Renaissance writer. The production included Hughes's one-act play, Soul Gone Home and featured a Chinese mother with her son played simultaneously by two actors, one black and the other Chicano.
Throughout his thirty years as executive director of the Inner City Cultural Center, Jackson nurtured numerous artists at various stages in their careers.
He died on July 16, 1996. In the wake of his death, playwright George C. Wolfe
recalled how Jackson encouraged him to stage one of his early projects, "Tribal Rites, or The Coming of the Great God-bird Nabuku to the Age of Horace Lee Lizer." "Though I've been involved in many projects since," Wolfe said, "this production was perhaps the most crucial to my evolution" as an artist.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
. The facility nurtured the careers of numerous performers including Beah Richards
Beah Richards
Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was a poet, playwright and author....
, George Takei
George Takei
George Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
, Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
, Nobu McCarthy
Nobu McCarthy
Nobu McCarthy was a Japanese Canadian actress, stage director, and fashion model.-Early life:McCarthy was born Nobu Atsumi in Ottawa, Ontario, the daughter of Yuki and Masaji Atsumi, a Japanese fashion designer and diplomatic attache stationed in Canada at the time. She was raised in Japan, where...
and Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
.
Background
Clarence Bernard Jackson grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, where he was involved in one of the city's toughest street gangs. Because he was able to speak Spanish, Jackson often served in a diplomatic capacity.
When he enrolled in the High School of Music and Art, Jackson was able to escape the negative influences of his neighborhood and obtain a broader view of the world. He subsequently attended Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
and pursued a master's degree in music at UCLA.
Career
In 1959, he co-wrote (with James Hatch), the book and music for Fly Blackbird, a musical dealing with civil rights. The production featuring a multi-ethnic cast was very popular with Los Angeles audiences, if not with critics. Fly Blackbird opened off-Broadway in 1961 and received an Obie AwardObie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best Musical the following year.
In the wake of the Watts Riots
Watts Riots
The Watts Riots or the Watts Rebellion was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11 to August 15, 1965. The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 3,438 arrests...
, he founded the Inner City Cultural Center in Central Los Angeles. Unlike other arts organizations that catered to one ethnic group or another, Inner City was operated under the concept of multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and provided assistance to a wide variety of cultural institutions. This included Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez is an American playwright, writer and film director.He is regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States.-Education:...
's El Teatro Campesino, the East-West Players and the Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, founded by Carmen Zapata
Carmen Zapata
Carmen Margarita Zapata is an American actress. Zapata was born in New York City to a Mexican father and an Argentine mother. She has been in over one hundred movies and shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, Married... with Children, Sister Act, and she was Carmen Castillo in Santa Barbara...
.
Inner City's multi-cultural approach did not come without criticism from the black artistic community and the mainstream press, despite the fact that Inner City was also the largest producer of black theatre in Los Angeles.
Jackson was also a proponent of non-traditional casting
Colour-blind casting
Colour-blind casting, non-traditional casting or integrated casting is the practice of casting a role without considering the actor's ethnicity. It derives its name from the medical condition of colour blindness...
. For example, in 1975, Inner City produced Maggie The Mouse Meets The Dirty Rat Fink, a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
musical that was written by Jackson. In the production, a black man and woman were cast as the parents of a Japanese daughter and a Chicano son. The following year, Jackson staged, Langston Hughes Said, a musical tribute to the Harlem Renaissance writer. The production included Hughes's one-act play, Soul Gone Home and featured a Chinese mother with her son played simultaneously by two actors, one black and the other Chicano.
Throughout his thirty years as executive director of the Inner City Cultural Center, Jackson nurtured numerous artists at various stages in their careers.
He died on July 16, 1996. In the wake of his death, playwright George C. Wolfe
George C. Wolfe
George Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.-Early life and...
recalled how Jackson encouraged him to stage one of his early projects, "Tribal Rites, or The Coming of the Great God-bird Nabuku to the Age of Horace Lee Lizer." "Though I've been involved in many projects since," Wolfe said, "this production was perhaps the most crucial to my evolution" as an artist.