by Sonya Bernard-Hollins, publisher
Community Voices
editor@comvoicesonline.com
Headline photo: Cal Street, center, stands with her sister, Mildred (Gill) Arbor, and Bertha Barbee-McNeal; three of the five original Velvelettes. Norma Barbee and Betty Kelly are not shown here.
What: On the Edge of a Dream, a play presented by “Sharing It With Bee Bee” and “The Hann Bee Players” directed by Buddy Hannah
This play is based on the true story of Cal Gill, the lead singer of Motown’s Velvelettes whose life changed forever in 1963 when her father signed her up as one of the African American students to integrate Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the same year her singing career was launched.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2
Where: Little Theater at Western Michigan University (corner of Oakland Drive and Oliver Lane) Theater Box Office Opens –7:00PM
Cost: Tickets online –$13.00
At The door –$15.00–(CASH ONLY)
Order tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/484492
KALAMAZOO (MICH.)-On Friday, Oct. 18, Cal Street took the stage at Hartford Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. She would sing a tribute at the funeral of Maxine Powell, the woman who taught Motown how to stand out among a crowd as their professional development coach. As she stood on the stage surrounded by other Motown artists who paid tribute to the woman who taught them how to bring class to their craft as entertainers. Street, a native of Kalamazoo, was a high school student when she and her group, the Velvelettes were signed to Motown as the last all-girl group.
“Mrs. Powell was more than a personal development coach,” Street recalls in an exclusive interview with Community Voices. “She developed us to conduct ourselves before an audience of kids or royalty, and to remember we were representative of Motown. She was a chaperone to me when we traveled on the road, as I was just a 17 years old. I remember one time we had missed our plane from Detroit to perform at the Baltimore Royal. We had to take a Greyhound the entire way and I came down with pneumonia. After performing on stage one night, I walked to her off stage and collapsed in her arms. She nursed me back to health during that tour.”
While Street fondly remembers the various tours with Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars, and overseas musical experiences as a member of the Velvelettes, it was her life, growing up the daughter of a preacher, that helped shape her into the woman and performer she would become.
On Friday, Nov. 1, the play, “On the Edge of a Dream,” will share Street’s story of how her life as a Motown artist began and how the turbulent civil rights era influenced her journey. The play, written by Sonya Bernard-Hollins, is based on an oral interview Street participated in during an oral history project with Kalamazoo Valley Museum and Western Michigan University. The play will be directed by Buddy Hannah who has decades of years of experience with area theater as an actor and director. Actors include: Marc Wilson, Java Holliday, Alary Ben, Alexis Plair, Bee Bee White, Clairise McCall, Terence Browning, Diane Carver and Leona Carter.
Street shares that her road to stardom began after winning the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Talent Show in 1963 on the campus of Western Michigan University. It was there that one student, Robert Bullock, the nephew of Berry Gordy, attended the event and encouraged the girls to audition for Motown. However, their road to the audition would be met by an unexpected twist that almost changed their fate.
The play is also heavily focused on the civil rights era and what was going on in the nation as well as Kalamazoo during those years. Names of those such as the late Commissioner Arthur Washington, and the late Dr. Alexander are mentioned in relation to the historic boycott on VanAvery’s Drug Store, and the march on City Hall.
Street’s experience with racism at the then nearly all-white Loy Norrix High School are featured as she determines if the wishes of her father to have her attend the school are worth it.
“On the Edge of a Dream” features area talent who bring Street’s life to the audience with song, comedy, and history. As New York honors Motown through a Broadway musical, “On the Edge of a Dream” gives tribute to one of their artist who played a significant role in what the world knows as Motown.
