Rabbi Gbaba Celebrates 47th Anniversary as Playwright & Theatre Director Part II

My Calling or Vocation as Playwright from the Slopes of Mt. Nimbaa at Carroll High School in Grassfield Was by Divine Inspiration

My calling or vocation as playwright, theatre director and actor originates from the slopes of Mt. Nimbaa at Carroll High School in Grassfield, Yekepa, Nimba County from 1971-1974. It happened by divine inspiration. Also, my growth as an artist/scholar continued within the walls of the University of Liberia, where I founded Dehkontee Artists Theatre forty-four years ago, and then at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Theatre where I earned my graduate degree in Theatre, and it culminated at the St. Joseph's University School of Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, I specialized in providing education for special needs individuals and as leader in educational matters. In addition, I was born in a royal family and some of my partriarchs were high class zoes, warriors and artists. Therefore, my artistic craft is a combination of a gift from God and professional training.

Rabbi Prince Joseph Tomoonh-Garlodeyh Gbaba clad in traditional Liberian/African royal garb in sacred honor of his ancestors.

For example, my great-grandfather, Prince Wrighyee Kpodeah, was a zoe. He had a war mask called "Garlay-boo Gleh". His father, Diah-Payee (my maternal great-great-grandfather) had "Daleh-dru Gleh". My great-grandfather Wrighyee-Kpodeah was a member of the Zeehmoon Clan of the Tchien Krahn subgroup. He was the brother of Karlay, Mother of Deh-Suah and Gweayzon, Bellah-Beh's mother. Deh-Suah and Bellah Beh were also very great Krahn leaders and they each were zoes.

Deh-Suah was the first Krahn man to become a member of the House of Representatives when Grand Gedeh gained county status in 1964. He had a war mask called "Galleh-Manyeah Gleh". Bellah-Beh served as Aide de Camp to King Barduway-Jaylah. He became Paramount Chief when traditional Liberian monarchy system was dissolved to absorb indigenous Liberians and their monarchical governance structure into the Liberian democratic/republican governmental system. Bellah-Beh's mask was called "Doo-ah-woo Gleh".

My late paternal uncle John Zarlee-Kpolue Gbaba was a zoe before he became an Assembly of God pastor. He was the custodian of "Gblor Gleh", the odest mask in the Sayee-Gbaydee Clan and, my maternal uncle, William Gayah-Ninneh Gaye is a minstrel and he was once the custodian of the musical mask called "Zulu Gleh". Hence, in the Krahn language I can proudly say: "Om zeh Day bli!" (interpreted in Krahn as: "I inherited my blessings from my maternal lineage!").

My Upbringing as a Cobra at Carroll High School Where My Career as Playwright Began 47 Years Ago!

Some Carroll High School Cobras at the Grassfield campus in the early seventies

Carroll High School (CHS) was an all-boys Catholic secondary school named in honor of Archbishop Francis J. Carroll. He later became the Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican to Liberia. He was also Doyen of the diplomatic corps in Liberia. His Grace Archbishop Francis J. Carroll had a retentive memory that enabled him to recognize and connect every Liberian he met or knew to some prominent family member or tribesman the Catholic prelate knew. Amazingly, he knew more Liberian history than most Liberians themselves. I was fortunate to receive his blessings when he learned I was a playwright. He prayed for me and inspired me to "Keep the fort though the task is tedious."

His Grace Archbishop Francis J. Carroll (center) receiving President William V.S. Tubman at the old Catholic Church on Ashmun Street, a stone throw from the old Executive Mansion on Ashmun Street. President Tubman and His Grace were buddies.

CHS was no joke. It was like a boot camp--with real military type training and it was run by English and Irish Christian Brothers of the Order of the Blessed Edmund Rice. We were awakened by the sound of a bugle and went to bed with the sound of a bugle. Brother C. L. O'Brien was the school Principal during my term as student. He and Sir E.D. Egan, a multilinguist and excellent painter/aritist were the two disciplinarians that kept us on our heels. Brother O'Brien boxed and kicked or whipped us with his black leather belt when we broke the rules on campus, like sleeping late, not being in your cabin during curfew, or using the back of your pressing iron to cook after the bugle was blown for us to go to bed, etc. Brother E.D. Egan was affectionately known as "Quarter to Four", a name he graciously earned and rightfully deserved because he meted out punishments at quarter to four.

The Grassfield campus was once the original site where LAMCO began its operations before the company moved to the new Yekepa City. The Catholic Church negotiated for the upper half of Grassfield to establish Carroll High School in 1969, while the lower half of Grassfield was still occupied by some LAMCO employees. When the last batch of employees relocated to Yekepa we were the only people living on that slope of Mt. Nimbaa, the highest mountain peak in Liberia.

There were two unique sets of students on campus: the regular boarders who were pursuing their secondary education and Junior Seminarians who were studying to become Catholic priests or religious. The Junior Seminary was further down the school campus where they had an Irish priest named Father Thoms Z. Hallow to oversee them. The seminarians wore white cassels on official church days and during mass on Sundays. We wore khaki pants and light blue shirts as uniforms and our school mascot is the Cobra snake.

The academic life on campus was vigorous and it was coupled with strict disciplinary regiment. Carroll High School always came top in the Liberia Government Examinations for ninth-and-twelfth-graders and it was regarded as one of the best high schools on the entire continent of Africa. Above all, Carroll High School was recognized nationally for its annual musical shows during graduation ceremonies. I participated in "Tommy" during my graduation in December 1974. The President of Liberia, His Excellency William Richard Tolbert, Jr. was the Guest Speaker that year and our valedictorian was Dr. George Ninneh Flahn.

Carroll High School Cobras lived in two-room cabins that had a shared bathroom, unlike many boarding students in Liberia that slept in dormitories. We all ate in the messhall but most of us had private "chop boxes" to supplement our diet because sometimes the food in the messhall was not always the best. So, we did some secret midnight cooking coined as "Intergenement", which was forbidden. You got a serious "Quarter-to-Four" punishment if you were caught cooking or "intergening" in your cabin.

We had house prefects and senior prefects who supervised our attendance during study period and in our various cabins. I served as a house prefect. There were strict rules regarding leaving campus without permission. We were allowed to obtain passes to spend weekends with our families. We left at the end of the school day on Friday and returned no later than six o'clock on Sunday. Despite the rules put in place, as the saying goes, "Boys will be boys!"

Most of the guys stowed way at night to go hustle chicks (sometimes referred to as "Trokpalee") in a famous brothel town near Yekepa called "Camp Four". Sometimes CHS boys traveled as far as Gbapa, Yekepa, Sanniquillie, or Ganta and would return early the next day. Most of the time they got away without getting caught because it was difficult to keep track of students living in cabins that spread out in what appeared to be a village or community of brilliant scholars and promising handsome young men. Indeed Carroll High boys were the sensation in Nimba and throughout Liberia!

We had two major rivals in Nimba--Saint Mary's High School and Sanniquillie Central High School. Some of our top football players Emmanuel Brumskine, Sylvester Carr, Sylvester Blibo, Yato George, Jarloth Wolo, Faustinus Boyah, Paul Nyan played for some of the local teams in Yekepa and married men worried when Boys from the slopes of Mt. Nimba came to town to play or to spend the Sunday afternoon at the Open Door Theatre in the Yekepa Community Center.

Brother Egan had a German Shepherd that helped him keep guard at night and early in the morning when those who stowed way came creeping back on campus. The dog would bark and it prompted Brother O'Brien and E.D. Egan to go to each cabin to do head counts. Those caught in the act were either suspended temporarily or they had to do hard manual labor on campus at Quarter-to-Four.

Quarter to Four was a very crucial time slot that served as the only leisure time we had on campus during the latter half of the day to play or engage in extracurricular activities that were optional. It depended on which areas your skills lied. Brother O'Sullivan worked with guys who were members of the Science Club. They did plumbing and electricity, while others learned to play the guitar or trumpet, flute, drums, how to draw or paint, play sports or to meditate in our small school chapel that was located on the little narrow road that led to the entrance of the CHS boarding school campus.

The Impact of Creating Friendship in Christ (C.F.C.)

As a student leader I organized Creating Friendship in Christ (CFC), a Christian organization consisting of youths on campus that were strong believers in Christ. I served as the first Right-Hand Brother and my assistant, the Left-Hand Brother, was Left-Brother Robert Freeman, Jr. The next tiers of officers were the Honorable Brothers who served as members of the Right-Hand Brother's council, and then the Honorable Body of CFC Brothers. Later, we recruited girls from "Area C" School in Yekepa and St. Mary's Convent in Sanniquillie to serve as Sisters. Members of CFC addressed one another as "Brother" or "Sister". We prayed regularly and we sometimes had retreats and congregational cookouts. My first actors and actresses forty-seven years ago were recruited from my CFC base. Some of my early actors and actresses included Bill N. Ross, III, Roseline Rogers, Galeh Massaquoi, Zobon Scott, Winston Conteh, Zig Collins, etc.

We also had basketball and football teams and sometimes we went on trips. One memorable trip was when we visited our friends at Ganta Methodist Mission to enagage in a basketball competition and to chase the beautiful girls there. On our way back, say about four miles away from Ganta, our bus broke down. Those days there were no cell phones. Therefore, there was no way to inform the school authorities we were stranded and that we needed help. As leader I was in charge of over seventy students and when emergency assistance was not in sight, we decided to walk from Ganta to Sanniquillie. Emergency help did not arrive until we were within the environs of Sanniquillie.

Brother O'Brien, the school principal, did not know our bus had a mechanical breakdown. Instead, he thought we overstayed because we were having fun. As we descended from the bus on campus, each of us was greeted either with a kick in the ass, or a punch in the face or with the lash of a belt on our behinds! We ran helter-skelter and our feet helped our bodies! Brother O'Brien ordered the dissolution of CFC but he was happy to repent, apologize to us and lift the ban on CFC activities a week later for two reasons:

1. CFC provided activities to actively engage the younger students to prevent them from mischievous acts but if they were not preoccupied in sports or recreational activities that we organized for the youths, it was likely there would be fights, disturbances and so forth. All the games were kept in my house and it was the venue for midnight cooking which we termed as "Intergenement"! Hence, with the ban on CFC, the younger boys created more behavioral problems than the Brothers could handle;

2. Brother O'Brien obtained the facts a week later that we told the truth when we told him our vehicle broke down on our way back to Grassfield. He became remorseful and apologized because he realized CFC contributed immensely to the stability of the Carroll High community.

The Open Door Theatre in Yekepa, Nimba County, Northern Liberia where I produced, directed and staged my first drama entitled "Life Story of Kekula" in 1974, forty-seven years ago! How time flies!

When I was not caring for the younger ones on campus, I was in my books, reading the Holy Bible, World History, World Literature, Shakespeare, or writing a story or attending art class with Brother E.D. Egan. Thus, my two favorite faculty members were Sir E.D. Egan and Brother David ("Doobie) Walsh. Brother Walsh was a very elloquent English speaker. I learned a lot from him with respect to dialectics, but above all, Sir "E.D." squared me up with World Literature, Composition, Shakepeare, and Drama and he inspired me to write my first play "Kekula". It was produced and staged at the Open Door Theatre in Yekepa, Nimba County, Forty-seven years ago!