Orange grad’s ‘Silent Partner’ shines at CIFF, festival circuit Roderick Lawrence’s first short movie tackles effects of microaggressions on Black professionals By Amanda Koehn
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hen his shows closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, actor Roderick Lawrence was in Cleveland and had time to think. Without plays and other acting jobs keeping him busy, the Northeast Ohio native began exploring his own mental health journey and challenges he’s faced throughout his life. Not only did he realize that for Black men, mental health is “not something that anybody really dives into,” but also the constant negative power microaggressions have on his state of mind, emotions and even success at work. He found out the same subtle yet powerful, harmful racist slights he’s experienced throughout his career are relatively common for Black people working in nearly every industry, he tells Canvas. “I wanted to tell an authentically Black story about struggles that young, affluent, educated, brilliant Black couples and people are going through,” Lawrence says. Lawrence – who graduated from Orange High School and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea before moving to New York City in 2011 – channeled that experience into a 16-minute film that showed at the Cleveland International Film Festival in April. “Silent Partner,” the film he co-produced, co-wrote and starred in, has not only led to festival success near and far, but a new company to create productions illustrating aspects of the Black experience. NORTHEAST OHIO BEGINNINGS Lawrence, 33, says he became interested in acting around the end of high school, after playing football and dabbling in playing guitar and singing growing up. A 2007 Orange graduate (who then went by Roderick L. Ingram Jr.), his parents encouraged him to apply to musical theater schools like Baldwin Wallace. He’s performed on Cleveland-area stages including Playhouse Square, Cain
24 | Canvas | Spring 2022
Roderick Lawrence and Salma Qarnain attend a screening of their film “Silent Partner” at the Cleveland International Film Festival April 7. Photo / Amanda Koehn Park, Cleveland Public Theatre, Great Lakes Theater and Dobama Theatre, according to a news release, and starred in plays and musicals in New York City and elsewhere. He’s also appeared in TV shows such as Comedy Central’s “Broad City,” in which he played “hot lawyer” in the 2015 episode “Citizen Ship.” He’s also done voiceovers for the National Basketball Association and played Simba on stage in Disney’s “The Lion King.” “Silent Partner” marks the first time Lawrence has taken on a producing and writing role. After coming up with an idea for a film, he partnered with Salma Qarnain, who he previously worked with on an off-Broadway show and who “has a background in producing and literally everything,” he says. The pair got to work on the short film, which shot in February 2021 in New York City and Weston, Conn.
Editing wrapped around the end of May 2021 in preparation for the upcoming film festival circuit. MICROAGGRESSIONS AND WORSE “Silent Partner” takes the audience through a dinner party from the perspective of a Black trial attorney – played by Lawrence – who is about to be named partner at a white-shoe law firm. After successfully defending a white woman charged with murdering a Black teen, the main character begins to question his promotion and the microaggressions – and worse offenses – he’s willing to put up with for the job. The aim was to take the microaggressions Black professionals face across different industries and narrow in on one fictional story, he says. “We talked to so many different Black
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