This is part of 草莓传媒鈥檚 continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
During the pandemic, Prince George鈥檚 County, Maryland, native Shawn Cosby said she was tired of watching TV and didn’t want to “stand still.” She says while listening to a jazz album that her brother gave her for Christmas, an idea for a film came to her.
It was the story of 16-year-old Memphis Braxton, who desperately wanted to be a hip hop dancer. His parents didn鈥檛 want him to become a dancer because he had a heart condition. Braxton went behind his parents’ backs and joined a dance academy.
Cosby didn鈥檛 idly stand by, quickly shaping the story into a script. She said she found herself awake, writing until 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Two weeks later, she had completed it.
Cosby is the writer and co-director of the soon to be released independent film, “33rd and Memphis.”
Cosby said her character’s ambitions got the better of himself, and he begins making decisions that create a lot of problems for his family, new friends and his dance company.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a redemption story. It鈥檚 a story also about the intersection of your life,鈥� Cosby said.
There comes a time in everyone鈥檚 life when you have to make a decision, she said.
鈥淵ou have to make a decision whether to go right, or do you go left, or are you going to keep straight, but what you cannot do is stand still,” Cosby said.
She said for the film, things fell into place even in the midst the pandemic, from finding local dancers and actors, as well as finding local locations to shoot. They worked for two months straight without anyone contracting COVID-19.
Cosby鈥檚 first feature film, “Those We Don鈥檛 Speak Of,” came out in 2016.
Cosby knows the world in which her character Memphis lives quite well. She has had a successful career as a choreographer and actress, and she began dancing at the age of 7. Cosby said she wasn鈥檛 the greatest dancer when she started.
But, she said that she learned early on, 鈥淚f you really want to grow, find the best dancer in the room and watch them and mimic them.鈥�
Cosby was part of the first class of performing arts students at Suitland High School. She said she was in love with the movie “Fame.”
“I wanted Debbie Allen to be my teacher and I wanted the whole ‘Fame’ experience,” she said.
She also began to act professionally, which she said was “painful at times.”
She left the University of Maryland in her junior year, after securing a reoccurring role in the series, 鈥淗omicide.” She said she remembers having to tell her parents that she made the decision to leave college. She said their response was, 鈥渕ake it happen.鈥� And she has.
She has choreographed for many artists and films including “Step Up.” And Cosby is a recipient of the Alvin Ailey Award for Choreography.
Cosby is also the artistic director and founder of Center Stage Academy for the Arts, a facility she opened in 2018. At the academy, students are taught teach vocal performance, acting for TV and Film, as well as contemporary dance, ballet and hip hop.
“33rd and Memphis” premieres at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Find more information about the film .
