Juney Smith’s mission: Preserve Black theater stories

Juney Smith should be a household name. He’s done it all and then some: actor, director, writer, and producer of stage, screen, and television. He’s performed in such plays as “A Raisin In The Sun,” “The Odd Couple,” and “Gem of the Ocean.” He served as artistic director of four theater companies: the Renaissance Drama Company; Mattie Theatre Company, New York; Rainbow Connection Drama Company; and Rebirth Drama Company in Los Angeles. 

After completing the film program at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, he’s gone on to write, direct, and produce 37 feature films—22 narratives and 15 documentaries. 

Smith’s love for and dedication to preserving the history of Black theater in New York—and this country—led him to create a partnership with actor Glynn Turman and Turman’s company, Backyard Ventures Inc., where they focus on producing documentary films about Black performing artists and performing arts institutions. 

Some of the documentaries they have created to date include “King of Stage: The Story of Woodie King Jr.”; “King Arthur & The Count,” which featured interviews with actors Arthur French, Count Stovall, and Marie Thomas, and playwrights Dominique Morisseau and Richard Wesley; lead Broadway producers Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey and Crossroads Theatre founder Ricardo Khan; “Women of Theatre, New York: A Supreme Love,” featuring actresses Elizabeth Van Dyke, Petronia Paley, Joyce Sylvester, Elain Graham, Kim Weston Moran, Perri Gaffney, Peggy Alston, and Terria Joseph (who performed in numerous Black Theatre productions), and myself—Linda Armstrong as the Black female theater critic; and “A Spectrum of Theatre: The Story of CARL CLAY.”

All of these documentaries are available on BluRay and DVD in major retail stores online at Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Amazon and streaming markets such as Peacock, Prime Video, Tubi, Vudu, and Hoopla worldwide. Coming in June 2024 will be “The Artistry of A. Dean Irby: Giving It All to the Art.”

Smith spoke with the AmNews about the documentaries he and Turman have done.

Amsterdam News: How did you come to partner with Glynn Turman and start making these documentary films on Black theater artists and companies?   

Juney Smith: As a teenager in 1972, I saw Glynn Turman in Woodie King Jr.’s “What the Wine Sellers Buy” at Lincoln Center, the first Black Broadway show I ever saw, and he became my favorite actor. Period. He still is to this day. In 2007, I had the honor and privilege of meeting him and directing him in a movie entitled “City Teacher/A Hard Lesson.” The experience was seamless and we became friends. 

In 2017, Glynn comes to town on business and I tell him, “Let’s head over to the New Federal Theatre. A great actor, Tim Simonson, is doing a one-man show, ‘Adam,’ Peter DeAnda’s play about Adam Clayton Powell Jr.” After the performance, Woodie King invited Glynn and me, along with Tim, to a restaurant across the street from the theater. As we sat down and began to talk about the wonderful show, a staff member of the restaurant holding a microphone begins to ask the audience questions about general historical facts, geography, and literature. The patrons shouted out the answers. What was peculiar to me was Woodie answered all the literature questions, whether the name of a book or an author. 

I said to myself, “This man is an erudite of the highest form. No wonder he’s the icon he is.” Then I blurted out, “Woodie, I want to do a documentary film on you,” and he chuckled and said, “I’m in a number of documentaries.” I said, “I know, I’ve seen all if not most of them, but I want to do it on only you—nobody else in the film but you.” 

Glynn said, “Yeah, just you, and he won’t take a lot of time. I’ve seen him do it!” 

The next day, Glynn and I discussed a formula and concepts to begin to produce a library of documentaries on Black performing artists and Black performing arts institutions. He decided to executive produce the film on Woodie, along with Neema Barnette. Reed McCants asked to edit it and “King of Stage, The Woodie King Jr. Story” was born. Glynn and I recognized our formula and concept worked and kept going.

AmNews: Black theater artists are often the ones who get ignored and that most people don’t know a lot about—why was it important to you to film and document these particular artists?  

JS: The theater is a place where people come to dream in public, and the theater artist and theaters are in charge of that dream. The theater gives a reflection of life. It enriches people. Black theater artists have been doing this through customs and rituals from the moment we hit the shores of America. 

History is important so one can decide the present and the future based on what already happened. Film is the most powerful medium there is. The artform is through perpetuity, and Black people should document our history so we can learn who we are. We must know who our Black theater artists are to help the younger and future Black artists proliferate what was already done and build upon that while taking the people/audiences along with them. Often, these artists are very well known and respected in the performing arts community, and our goal is to get them exposed to the masses.

AmNews: What do you want people to know about these artists, and what significance do you want your documentary films to hold for future generations? 

JS: It’s important that these artists be documented through film so it is available to the present generation and future generations to learn about the shoulders they stand on—the methods, ways, and means they have passed on to them. The lessons of their history teaches them. The responsibility is made clear by these Black theater artists through their mere participation passed on to present and future generations to carry on.

AmNews: How do you determine who you’ll spotlight in a documentary? 

JS: The artist or institution having longevity, and the impact their work has on the Black community.

AmNews: Why is Black history preservation so much more necessary in today’s climate?

JS: Due to the erasure of Black history in today’s climate. It’s [essential] that we preserve our

history. White people are not going to, nor should they, make documentary movies on our  Black theater artists. It’s Black people’s responsibility to document our Black theater artists and institutions. Glynn and I understand that, and in our way, are helping fill the empty vault of documenting Black performing artists and Black performing arts institutions by feature films. 

All our documentary films have major distribution. Visit  americanblackactorsdocumentarymovies.com and newyorktheatredocumentaryfilms.com.

For more info about Smith’s work, visit www.Juneysmithfilms.com.