Life & Work with Charles Reese

Hi Charles, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story. 
My name is Charles Reese. I am a multi-hyphenated artist and founder of Teeth and Eyes Communications, LLC. I have carved out my own lane in the entertainment industry, including 25 years of widely acclaimed work as an advocate and promoter of James Baldwin (one of the greatest writers of our time). This work has taken me from the Off-Broadway stages of New York to around the globe.

I was born, raised, and potty trained in Washington, DC, in the Shaw District in the Northwest section of the city. I am the youngest of seven children (4 girls and 3 boys). I attended Scott Montgomery Elementary, Shaw Jr High, and McKinley Technical High Schools, three of the best public schools in the district, during my time growing up in the city. I was nurtured in the arts and culture by my 3rd grade after-school teacher, Keny Long. I was introduced to the poetry of Langston Hughes by my 6th-grade teacher, Mrs. Lillian L. Fulp, and learned to play the trumpet and baritone horn in Jr. High School under the leadership of Mr. Lloyd Hoover. I graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, with a BA Degree in Mass Communications and Theatre Arts, where I met my mentor, Lamar Alford (original Broadway production of Godspell), and my muse, writer/expatriate James Baldwin (a very brief but profound meeting). Additionally, I received a Certificate of Completion in Theatre Arts/Management from the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training under the tutelage of the late Director/Producer, Jose Quintero in association with Florida State University.

Often, I’m asked, “Are you an actor, writer, or producer? How do you make a living?” One day, I said, ‘I am a cultural architect for public engagement.’ (C.A.P.E.) I get to create conversations and entertain dialogues through many different mediums – poetry, performance literary salons, speaking engagements, voice-overs, workshops, consulting, through the internet, television, and film. It also best describes who I am when I’m doing my James Baldwin work.

I literally ran into Baldwin when I was a freshman at Morehouse College. It was a brief encounter. Racing across campus to make my curfew, I bumped into him. He looked at me. I looked at him. And he said, “My, you have eyes like mine.” He was in town working on a story for Playboy magazine on the Atlanta child murders case, which later became his book The Evidence of Things Not Seen.

Presently, I am known in theatrical circles for my critically acclaimed Off-Broadway performance in James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire by the late playwright Howard B. Simon (1962 -2000) and produced at the Tony Award-winning Woodie King Jr’s New Federal Theatre. Critic David DeWitt of The New York Times called the play “…funny, thrilling, and wise, buoyed by the passionate performance of Charles Reese in the title role.”

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am faced with challenges and obstacles every day; however, when they arrive, these are 2 James Baldwin quotes which helps me get through them:

1. “You don’t tell life; life tells you.”

2. “Go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have; you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.”

And finally, as I continue this creative life journey, I always remind myself that if things don’t get any better and they don’t get any worse, I believe I will be alright.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I can be seen as the feisty chef, Jalil Baldwin, on the American TV sitcom Beauty and the Baller, streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Crackle TV. The show is based on the web series WHO…a micro web comedy created by the late Emmy-winning writer-producer Michael Ajakwe Jr. Additional Off-Broadway and regional theatre credits: In Dahomey (New Federal Theatre); Freedom Fighters & Friends (Arena Stage); Julie Hebert’s St. Joan and the Dancing Sickness (Open Fist Theatre); and Myla Churchill’s Griot Trio (Aaron Davis Hall). Television credits include a recurring role on the soap opera series A House Divided (Amazon Prime Video/ALLBLK). I was also in WHO… a micro web comedy, Law & Order, Between the Lines, Grapevine, In the Heat of the Night (episodes). Film credits: 40, On the Low, and Road Lawyers and Other Briefs.

As a writer, I co-authored the book adaption of the Off-Broadway play James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire, which includes the play version and commentary to pay homage to Baldwin’s legacy as an author and civil rights activist. I also contributed an essay titled James Baldwin: Artist as Activist and the Baldwin /Kennedy Secret Summit of 1963 to the book volume James Baldwin: Challenging Authors, edited by Paul L. Thomas & A. Scott Henderson. (Furman University)

I was a guest speaker at the International James Baldwin Conference which took place at the American University of Paris in France. I also serve as the Artist in Residence for the James Baldwin Writers’ Colony at the Emerson College European Center at Kasteel Well in The Netherlands.

I am a very popular performance literary conversationalist at colleges, universities, and cultural venues in the United States and internationally. My unique history-telling salon series, An Evening in History with James Baldwin, a Literary Performance & Conversation has taken me around the globe as I keep Baldwin’s work alive.