Interview by Paul Salfen
Jasmine Cephas Jones is best known for originating the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton. In 2020, Cephas Jones won a Primetime Emmy for portraying Tyisha in #freerayshawn. Paul Salfen talks to her about her role in this timely series streaming on Quibi.
SYNOPSIS: #FREERAYSHAWN tells the story of a young, black Iraq War veteran named Rayshawn (Stephan James) who is set up by New Orleans police on a drug deal, runs for his life, and takes refuge inside his apartment building with his girlfriend and child. With New Orleans PD and the SWAT team outside ready to storm his home, a social media frenzy begins as community members and news outlets arrive at the scene. During this growing mayhem, a sympathetic cop named Steven Poincy (Laurence Fishburne) plays the role of negotiator, and, over the course of one brutally stressful day, Steven tries to get Rayshawn to calmly surrender in order to avoid an escalation of unnecessary violence
