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Newly minted Tony-winner Shoshana Bean, Roderick Lawrence, and Susan Heyward are among the starry group of Broadway performers in the cast of Silent Partner, a new independent legal thriller from Black Man Films.
The film examines the mechanics of systemic racism through the story of a Black defense attorney facing an impossible moral choice: mounting a vigorous defense for a white woman who killed a Black teenager under the state’s stand-your-ground law. Silent Partner marks the flagship feature film investment for Film 4 Good Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to funding underrepresented storytellers.
Lawrence, who most recently starred as Ike Turner in the national tour of Broadway’s TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, plays the lead role in the film and stars alongside Shoshana Bean, who recently won Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 2026 Tony Awards for The Lost Boys, and Broadway veteran Susan Heyward.
The cast also includes Eric Nelsen, who originated the role of Brett in the original Broadway cast of 13: The Musical alongside Ariana Grande, and later won a Tony Award as a producer of The Inheritance. Karen Aldridge, who has earned multiple Jeff Award nominations across The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater, also stars alongside Jeff Perry, co-founder of Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Stephen Hill.
The movie marks the directorial debut of Bronx native Eric Branco, ASC, the cinematographer behind the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Clemency, The Forty-Year-Old Version (Sundance 2020), and Chasing Summer (Sundance 2026). The film is in final post-production, targeting delivery in summer 2026.
The screenplay was co-written by Roderick Lawrence, Eric Branco, and James J. Johnson, a DC-based actor, playwright, and screenwriter who has performed at Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, and the Kennedy Center over a 25-year career and received a 2026 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer for The Piano Lesson.
Behind the camera is Black Man Films co-founder Salma Qarnain, a two-time Helen Hayes Award recipient and Broadway original cast member in the multi-Tony-winning Life of Pi. Producers include BK Fulton (Soulidifly Productions), James L. Walker Jr., Makeda Mays Green, and Kenny Green, whose credits include many Broadway shows, including Hell’s Kitchen, The Piano Lesson, The Outsiders, and more.
Photo Credit: Derryl Strong
