Rest in Love, Robert Chew

i got a call about thirty minutes ago. it was my theater baby, Robert Hardy. while on his way to a funeral, he shared that his mentor and my brother from Arena Players, Inc., Robert Chew passed away last night in his sleep. i immediately called Troy Burton - another brother from Arena Players - to confirm. it has not hit me yet...i'm numb, but my mind is racing.

Robert Chew. that name equates fierceness if you know the brother. y'all may know him as Proposition Joe from The Wire. i know him as Oedipus from Gospel at Colonus...i was Evangelist Antigone. it was my third professional play early in my acting career. it was the first time him and i shared stage. he played a host of characters in an original play called The Drum about thirteen years ago...different voices, different textures, all of them done to perfection because Robert ain't coming short. that just wasn't who he was. fierceness, i tell you! i shared stage with him again..i played The Ancestor with a local all-star Arena Players cast that included people like Eric Burton (not related), Sandra Meekins, Robert Lee Hardy and the members of the YouthTheater. it was the first time in the history of Arena Players that Adult Theater and YouthTheater  shared the same stage. it was the first time he heard me sing...said i sounded like a young Roberta Flack. that's high praise...i LOVE Roberta Flack. i love Robert Chew.

i just realized today while talking to Troy, who, by the way, work shopped and directed The Drum, that this was the last time Chew and i shared stage...but it wasn't the last time i would see or work with him. during the early part of the millennium, i shadowed his classes at Arena Players. he was the musical director of the YouthTheater, and he took NO PRISONERS! ask any kid from Baltimore who studied under him. he sat in on all of my rehearsals when i was prepping for my one-woman show, and i always looked forward to his notes.

Troy directed another play around this time...just before The Wire dropped called A Real Nigga Show (pump ya breaks, fam...this ain't about political-correctness right now, so stay with me). Chew's most memorable role for me was The Linguist who, with dictionary in tow, gave the textbook definition to urban dialect (SLANG. SLANG...i can still hear it!) if Lon Chaney, Jr. was known as the man with a thousand faces, then Chew should go down in history as the man with a thousand voices. by the way, did i mention that the brother could sang? i said SANG, children...you don't study under Nathan Carter (Morgan State University) and not be able to sang, baby...ask Maysa Leak...ask Navasha Daya.
Chew came from THAT stock. FIERCENESS, children...FIERCENESS!

but it was the fifth season of The Wire that made me realize Chew's impact on the Baltimore community. during this season, as in season's past, but this one especially, there were huge numbers of his students from Arena Players that were cast in the series...Charmaine McPhee and Rashad Orange sit at the front of my mind right now. there were others...so many others. when Chew "made it" he didn't forget to reach back and bring his babies along with him. if he was gonna eat, they were gonna eat. now THAT'S what's up!

i know i'm rambling...it still hasn't sunk in that he's an ancestor now. 801 McCulloh Street will never be the same, but the charge to those who were touched by him is to pick up the torch and continue his work. Robert is finished. he came to do what he came to do. may the Most High smile upon him, his life, and his legacy.

imma miss you posting up on my page, Chew. rest in love, my thespian brother. *pouring libations*

love,

jaki-terry

now that school's over, class is in session

i'm back in the gym...back to basics. time to refine myself with the tools i've been blessed to learn the last three years. my sister is my gym partner. we work out at the Virginia G. Piper Sports & Fitness Center here in Phoenix.

the Piper Sports & Fitness Center - or SpoFit - has three swimming pools: a lap pool, a therapy pool and a spa, all equipped with handicap access. the lap and therapy pools come with an elevator lift, a hydraulic lift and transfer access, while the spa comes with hydraulic lift and transfer access only. they have wheelchair accessible gym equipment, courts, tracks, a climbing wall, you name it. they have people on staff to assist people with special needs

SpoFit is one of the many community programs offered by the Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL).ABILs mission is to address the needs of people living with disabilities by advocating and encouraging personal responsibility as a means to independence and self-sufficiency...says so on the web page, http://www.abil.org/about-abil.

it's cool to have someone to workout with, and my sister likes to go hard like i do. in case you haven't figured it out, my sister lives with a disability...she refers to herself as "handi-capable." i respect that.

this is our first week. starting this past Tuesday, my sister and i have been to the site four times, and had at least a ninety day session each time. Gabe, her trainer - who is also "handi-capable - told the both of us that he didn't want to see either of us anymore this week.

he gets it. we're serious. Monday's just a day away.