Harand Theatre Camp Mourns Beloved Co-Founder

Sulie Harand Friedman, co-founder of Harand Camp of the Theatre Arts, passed away Saturday evening, August 6 at the age of 97. Sulie was preceded in death by Harand Camp co-founders - husband Byron Friedman, sister Pearl Harand Gaffin, and brother-in-law Sam Gaffin. In addition to her legacy as a teacher, director and businesswoman through Harand Theatre Camp, Sulie was renowned for her one-woman interpretations of classic musicals. She will be remembered for her contributions to performing arts education and lasting impact on thousands of Haranders around the world.

Sulie was the beloved wife and best friend of the late Byron Friedman; loving mother of Judy Friedman Mooney and Jacqueline (David) Friedlander; proud grandmother of Samara Harand and Frank (Susan) Friedlander; fond great grandmother of Francesca and Penelope; dear sister of the late Pearl Harand (the late Sam) Gaffin; cherished aunt of Nora Gaffin and Janice Gaffin; and great aunt of Samuel Lovell, Angela Lovell and Peri Cherashore.

Services will be held Thursday, August 11 at 12 pm at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd (at Niles Center Road), Skokie. Interment will follow at Westlawn Cemetery, 7801 W Montrose Ave, Norridge. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Harand Camp Scholarship Fund, 1569 Sherman Ave., Suite 201A, Evanston, IL 60201.

Sulie Harand Friedman began studying opera with Richard DeYoung at the American Conservatory of Music, and was coached by Kurt Herbert Adler, who became the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Opera. She won contests in Chicago movie houses and radio shows, culminating in a long run at the Oriental Theatre.

Sulie married Byron Friedman, who became Harand Camp's Director, and they had two children - Judy (now one of the Co-Directors and Head of the Dance Department) and Jackie (an award-winning writer). Sulie played clubs across the Midwest, performing tributes to Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and others. She quickly turned to musical theatre and established an enviable reputation with her one-woman-shows where she would become many characters in a single performance without changing costume. Traveling all over the country with thirty-nine different shows in her repertoire, Sulie brought laughter, tears, and beauty to the stage.

In 1962, Sulie was granted a private audition at New York's famed Carnegie Hall with composer Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls) and Broadway producer Stuart Ostrow. Though she was offered a starring role in an upcoming production, Sulie declined.

While she continued performing, Sulie opened the Harand Studios of the Theatre Arts with her sister Pearl, which later expanded to include Harand Camp, where Sulie headed the Music and Programming Departments and coordinated shows with Pearl.

First established in 1955, Harand Camp's unique method of teaching has helped thousands develop poise and confidence in an environment where "No Man Is an Island" and everyone is a star. Harand came into being in 1952 as a children's arts studio based in Chicago and area suburbs. Founders Sulie and Pearl Harand - already well-known for their mastery of the performing arts disciplines - opened the studio as a way to share these unique talents with a younger generation.

Pearl, a former member of the Chicago Repertory Theatre, taught drama, while Sulie, known for her incomparable one-woman interpretations of classic musicals, taught voice. Other staff members included Byrne and Joyce Piven (who would later found the Piven Theatre Workshop), Chicago's future Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg, Nora Jacobs (former dancer with Martha Graham), Estelle Spector (Columbia College) and many other prominent professionals.

The studio curriculum focused primarily on musical theater with an emphasis on the community spirit and equal opportunity for which the camp would later become known. The studio was also the first to combine training in all three musical theater disciplines - singing, dancing, and acting. The children loved it so much that they never wanted to go home so many parents suggested expanding the program to a full camp in the summer months. Pearl once said that the "dream [had] always been to have a place where kids can laugh and play, where they can develop their whole personality while learning through shared experiences."

In 1955, led by Sulie and Pearl, with husbands Byron and Sam, that dream became a reality when the studio expanded to an overnight summer camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Campers were divided into groups designated by names of shows such as Brigadoon and became known as "Haranders." The curriculum struck a balance between the arts and traditional camp activities. Jeremy Piven, who was a camper in the 1980s, still marvels at the program saying "how many places in the world can you go to as a kid and get fulfillment performing in plays without all the politics-and still get to play sports all day long?"

Harand has also been able to set itself apart from other arts programs by adhering to a philosophy of inclusion and a non-competitive spirit - placing a premium on social development and holding firm to its commitment to sharing lead roles and the ideals of "No Man Is an Island." Sulie said they had wanted "to give children the ability to live with other people and not feel someone else has to fail for them to succeed."

This philosophy has generated avid support from prominent alumni such as the late Lois Weisberg, former Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, who said that "the Harand approach should be reinvented today in the public schools. Their model is an extraordinary model for teaching."

In 1989 the Harand family sold the camp property in Elkhart Lake; however, the camp continued to live on at Wayland Academy, a preparatory school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Though the property was rented and there were no buildings or beaches to call their own, the traditions and philosophy remained. In 2005 the camp relocated to Carthage College in Kenosha proving, once again that, when it comes to Harand "home is where the heart is."

Harand Camp recently concluded its 62nd Season and is still operated by the Harand Family - Judy Friedman Mooney, Janice Gaffin, Nora Gaffin, and Samara Harand. For more information about Harand Camp of the Theatre Arts please visit www.harandcamp.com.