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. 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 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,
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 addition to dancing with Dunham and Ailey, Clarke performed with the companies of Tally Beatty,
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. the pair began a long-term theatrical collaboration. Wolfe and Clarke directed and choreographed 10 plays and musicals together, the Off-Broadway play,
Spunk, In 1992, Clarke earned a Tony Award nomination for “Best Choreography” for her work in ''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 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.
More Broadway, Off Broadway, and Regional Theater In 1985, Clarke played “Ruby” in the musical
Grind and worked with
Lester Wilson. 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.
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.
Quotable • “I want African Americans who come to see the opera to be proud that an African American is directing the production and to recognize the people on stage.” • "As a director, I guess I bring in the female sensibilities. Since I'm also an actress, I've really tried to develop the characterizations so that the performers don't do a little singing here, and some acting there. And coming from a black perspective, I know how we think, how we feel, what we do. I understand the little things. That makes a difference." • “In my production, everybody works. Everybody has some type of job. Just because you are poor doesn't mean you have to be slovenly or ignorant." ==Honors and Awards==