Smith's arrival on set confirmed that the Sandy Park community, in which the film was shot, had become closely knit with the cast and crew. I had to make sure that these folks believed in me, and I suppose how I did that was in believing in them and trusting them." Smith observed his character as "a man of some charisma who has to inspire people in both intimate settings and large-scale settings as well." In relaying his first day on set, Smith said, "It was a great challenge because the first thing that I shot was a huge rally. The two have now come together, many years later, to collaborate on Better Mus' Come in which Smith plays a charismatic leader, able to invoke strong sentiment in his followers, a personality trait that Saulter himself embodied daily on the set of the film in which he wrote, directed, edited and filmed. When he went to film school in LA (Los Angeles), where I live, we crossed paths as artists." "I became exposed to Storm as one of these kids running around the family restaurant out there on the west-end road in Negril. In a spiritual sense, I haven't left," Smith explained.Ī close friend to Saulter's parents, Smith watched as the young director-to-be grew into a budding artist. "I went straight from the Kingston airport to Tuff Gong studios where there was a guy named Bob Marley recording an album called Survival and doing a song called Africa Unite when I walked into the studio. Smith had come as a student intrigued by the culture of reggae music. He recollected his first experience in Jamaica.
SPIKE LEE ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH SCHOOL DAZ SERIAL
Smith, who is a serial visitor to the island, secured his footing in Jamaican cultural arts long before Saulter could hold a camera or even say the word. He has taught extensively and is currently directing his Performing History and Autobiography in Progress workshops at Cal Arts.Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.
SPIKE LEE ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH SCHOOL DAZ SERIES
Roger was featured on HBO in the series K STREET and OZ and in UNCHAINED MEMORIES: READINGS FROM THE SLAVE NARRATIVES.Īlso among his wide-ranging work for the stage are JUAN AND JOHN, RODNEY KING, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 1992, WHO KILLED BOB MARLEY?, IN HONOR OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, TWO FIRES, ICELAND, THE WATTS TOWERS PROJECT, and, with Mark Broyard, INSIDE THE CREOLE MAFIA, a "not-too-dark-comedy" cited by the LA Weekly as Production of the Year for both its premiere and revival runs.įor the seminal performance trio Culture Clash, Roger directed the Ovation and Bessie Award-winning RADIO MAMBO, as well as the acclaimed West Coast Premiere of Katori Hall's THE MOUNTAINTOP.
NEWTON STORY into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, directed by his longtime colleague Spike Lee.įor Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING, Roger created the stuttering hero Smiley, as well as an eclectic range of memorable characters in MALCOLM X, GET ON THE BUS, HE GOT GAME, EVE’S BAYOU, KING OF NEW YORK, DEEP COVER, HAMLET, ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS, and AMERICAN GANGSTER, for which Roger was nominated for the Screen Actors’ Guild Award. Roger adapted his Obie Award-winning solo performance of A HUEY P. He studied as well at the Yale School of Drama, in a distinguished class which also included future collaborators Angela Bassett, Charles Dutton, and John Turturro.įREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW, Smith’s current, ever-fluid interpretation of Douglass’s classic 19th century texts, has played nationally, including an acclaimed engagement at the Kennedy Center. Watson Fellow, Roger performed Douglass abroad while working at London’s Keskidee Arts Center.Īs a student in Yale University’s inaugural graduate class in Afro-American Studies, Roger served as research assistant for the Frederick Douglass Papers, under the direction of the late historian John W. For his senior honors project in American Studies, he created and performed AN EVENING WITH FREDERICK DOUGLASS, the first in a series of biographically and historically- infused plays which have become his signature.Īs a Richter Fellow, Roger researched Douglass materials at the Library of Congress.
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