The Story Speaks

29/05/2024

Thanks for the shoutout from NETA for our film!

Today is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. A Black dancer and white choreographer create a silhouette-based dance to heal racial unrest following his death in the film The Shadow Between Us.

Check your local PBS station’s schedule or stream free on the PBS App. https://www.pbs.org/show/the-shadow-between-us/

The Story Speaks

26/04/2024

Such a nice surprise to wake up this morning and find out our film The Shadow Between Us received four EMMY nominations. Congratulations to our fantastic and talented team of Obadiah Baker, Neemo Spencer and Lynne Waggoner-Patton!!! If you haven't yet seen it, it's freely available in the U.S. through PBS.

24/02/2024

A little love from NETA - National Educational Telecommunications Association for our film, The Shadow Between Us. You can find it and watch for free on the PBS app, which can usually be downloaded to most modern TVs.

Embrace the beauty of expression during Black History Month as we celebrate the theme of African Americans & the Arts. From music and theater to modern and fine art, honor the creatives who have helped shape our cultural landscape. Stream these shows and many more, FREE on the PBS App.

The Story Speaks Afrofantastic Songs at the Center TV

22/02/2024

Colorado friends...

My film, "The Shadow Between Us" will be airing on Rocky Mountain PBS tomorrow night on Thursday, Feb. 22nd at 7pm following the PBS Newshour.

The film has played in a number of festivals and is currently enjoying a national PBS release, but it's a great thrill to finally bring it home to Colorado.

Please join me if you can in watching it on the airwaves tomorrow night. And if you do get a chance to see it, please share your comments.

04/02/2024

It’s been a long road, but we’re excited to finally bring our feature documentary, “The Shadow Between Us,” to a wider audience with a national PBS premiere this weekend in conjunction with Black History Month. The film, which is about healing racial divison through the arts, is available over the next three years on up to 300+ PBS stations (check local PBS listings). OR it’s freely available to watch ANYTIME on the PBS App.

See it online here: https://www.pbs.org/show/the-shadow-between-us/

Synopsis: Nehemiah, a black dancer trapped in a pandemic lockdown in Cleveland, is called to Colorado to help create a silhouette-based dance to heal racial unrest following the death of George Floyd. Nehemiah must find the courage to participate in a project which will transform everyone in unexpected ways.

The stories and real life experiences of Nehemiah Spencer and Lynne Waggoner-Patton are what gave depth and heart to this film, as they joined forces through the pandemic to “bring light to the darkness.”

So many people to thank for the success of this project including producer Obadiah Baker, and our supertalented cast of Lynne Waggoner-Patton, Nehemiah Neemo Spencer and The Silhouettes dancers. We’re also grateful to the many film festivals and organizations that supported and programmed the film, including Newport Beach, Sedona, the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and many others. Huge thanks as well to The Cleveland Foundation who helped us get it the last mile over the finish line.

If you get a chance to watch it, please reach out and share your thoughts…

01/01/2022

Late night at the Marshall fire in Louisville, Colorado.

18/04/2021

18/04/2021

Recent photography work for Honored.org by Story Speaks founder Lance Murphey on outstanding educator Justin Barney of Denver Green School. https://www.honored.org/honoree/justin-barney/ Also see other profiles by me on Utah's Jane Olsen https://www.honored.org/honoree/jane-olsen/ New Mexico's Manuel Mendoza https://www.honored.org/honoree/manuel-mendoza/ and Colorado's Jon Anderson https://www.honored.org/honoree/jon-anderson/

Jon Anderson, a teacher at Eagle Rock School in Estes, Colorado, has been awarded the Honored national teaching award.

05/04/2021

FB friends, we're so honored to present the virtual and in-person performance of an antiracism project in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, April 24th at 6 PM MDT. Stay tuned later this summer for news about the film that The Story Speaks directed and produced leading up to this performance. Thank you Obadiah Baker of Tender Heart Crusades, the Cleveland Foundation, Lynne Waggoner-Patton and "The Silhouettes," dancer Nehemiah Spencer, and Anthony Brown & Group Therapy for making this passionate and important project come to light.

01/04/2021

An empty wheelchair sits on the front lawn of a quiet suburban home in Arvada, Colorado. Two doors down, Steve Weber describes how an elderly woman frequently sat in the wheelchair and waved at him as he walked his dogs. The curtains of the home are shuttered after a late-night FBI raid. Twenty miles away, another wheelchair carries Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who lived in the same Arvada home, into a courtroom to face charges for the murder of 10 people.

It was a gut-wrenching week in Boulder, the entire community in shock over the senseless killing of 10 profoundly beautiful souls. Each one of these amazing people with so much life and promise ahead of them. Each soul was ripped from this world in a split second by bullets and evil intent.

Working on the frontlines of the King Soopers shooting last week, I felt far too much loss and grief up close. Boulder resident David John Pendlebury, who hid in a King Soopers bathroom to hide from the gunman, told me, “I can imagine this happening with the way the state of the world is, you know. I can see it. It’s not a surprise to me.” Another survivor, James Graham, stopped in the store to get lunch and was checking out when he heard gunshots and glass breaking above his head. “The shots were so close I could smell the gunpowder,” said ­Graham. He managed to escape by running to the backside of the store. As he ran, he saw a woman lying on the ground.

At a somber vigil on Boulder’s outdoor mall, classmates of the youngest shooting victim, Denny Stong, broke down in tears as they realized how much worse this would have been if their high school hadn’t been out on Spring Break. It was a daily ritual for many students to walk down to King Soopers for their lunch and half the high school would often be there. Denny’s friend Maxene McNice called Denny, “the kindest soul.” She said he could put a smile on your face no matter what you were going through.

A week after the horrific events at King Soopers, more than 500 vehicles line up for an eight-mile-long memorial procession and service to pay their respects to officer Eric Talley, who lost his life when he ran into the grocery store to attempt to stop the gunman.

Words cannot express the horrific impact of this event on the close-knit community of Boulder. But I wanted to share some moments from this last week’s coverage of the events in Boulder.