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Movie And TV Star Harry Lennix Shares His Talent And Advice At Tampa Bay Theatre Festival
E-Warrant System Pilot Program Eliminates ‘The Wait’
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Harry Lennix with Tampa Bay Theatre Festival founder, Rory Lawrence.
He’s known as “Dresser” from classic movie “The Five Heartbeats” or, to younger fans, the hard-charging FBI assistant director Harold Cooper on the popular NBC show “The Blacklist.”
But on Saturday, actor and producer, Harry Lennix played the role of teacher while hosting a free master acting class as part of the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival.
Dozens of actors – both as- piring and professional – hung onto Lennix’s every word as he critiqued performance after performance inside the Main- stage Theater located at Hills- borough Community College’s Ybor City campus.
For four hours, Lennix talked to an eager audience
and peppered his advice about stage presence and vocal pitch- ing with tidbits of humor.
“For five seconds, I can play a woman better than a woman,” he quipped.
Born and raised in Chicago, Lennix studied act- ing at Northwestern Univer- sity. After graduation, he taught school and starred in local productions at renowned Windy City theaters like the Goodman and the Steppen- wolf.
He appeared in his first film, “The Package” in 1989. Since then he’s gone on to rack up a series of credits in major films like “Ray,” “Love and Basketball,” and “The Matrix: Revolutions.”
In his class, Lennix dis- cussed how as a Black actor tapping into certain emotions can be effortless because they are used as coping mecha- nisms against ugly experi- ences.
“We can dress down people pretty easily,” he said. “Anger is easy for us, cool is easy for us, and even cruelty is easy.”
But it can become a com- fort zone that can limit an actor’s range, Lennix said.
To overcome those limits, play against the familiar and let the words “do the heavy lift- ing,” he said.
It was Lennix’s second year visiting the festival, which local director and playwright, Rory Lawrence founded
three years ago.
Lennix requested to re-
turn to the festival, a boon for organizers who were seeking a popular actor with a theater background, Lawrence said.
Lennix’s appearance at the festival again was expected to be a hit with attendees, he said.
Part of Lennix’s appeal is his instant connection with people, Lawrence said.
“What I love about him is he’s very down to earth,” he said.
Kia B., a Tampa-based ac- tress, agreed.
“I’ve been to other work- shops, but he was so good,” she said Saturday after Lennix’s class. “He was ap- proachable.”
Harry Lennix Trivia
In the movie “Ray” Lennix played “Joe Adams”, Ray Charles’ emcee and manager. In one notable scene, Lennix is shown mak- ing a barrage of introductions in several different languages. Lennix said he’s not multilin- gual; in fact, he often recited the phrases just moments after learning them from a crew member.
“I would love to learn Ger- man, but I didn’t know it,” he said. “It was really people who had lived in those places who would give me the sentences to say.”
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last month, the 13th Judi- cial Circuit of the State of Florida initiated a new method of obtaining war- rants. Known as the E-War- rant Pilot Program, the initiative will be operational for 90 days.
The E-Warrant Program eliminates the need for police officers to meet with repre- sentatives from the State At- torney’s Office and a judge.
Col. J. R. Burton, of the Department of Patrol Serv- ices with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office ex- plained the process utilizing a murder in a home as an ex- ample.
“If a murder is committed at a residence, the detectives cannot enter the home and search for evidence without getting a warrant. That means the detective has to leave the scene and drive to meet a judge to obtain the warrant.
“With the E-Warrant Pro- gram, the detective can ac- complish the same thing by using his or Smart Phone or the Laptop Computer in his vehicle. This saves time and preserves evidence,” he said.
The detective gets ap- proval by e-mail from the State Attorney’s Office and the judge on duty reviews the information, approves the warrant, and signs off on it electronically.
Col. Burton further said a warrant is not needed in every homicide. But, it is needed if the homeowner is
not available or if the home- owner is the victim, then a search warrant is needed.
“This program will elimi- nate the delay in removing the body from the scene by as much as 4 hours, which will make it easier on the family,” Col. Burton said.
Once the warrant has been approved by the State Attorney’s Office and the Duty Judge, an additional copy of the warrant is auto- matically forwarded to the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office.
The Program is a collabo- ration between the Hillsbor- ough County Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney, Clerk of Circuit Court and Judges Samantha Ward, Gre- gory Holder, Claudia Isom and Scott Stephens of the 13th Judicial Circuit.
The four Circuit Judges and 75 detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office are participating in the program.
E-Warrants can be issued 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
If the program is success- ful, law enforcement mem- bers from the Tampa Police Department, Plant City Police Department, Temple Terrace Police Department, and Florida Highway Patrol will have access to the system.
Currently 62 judges rotate the responsibilities of the “Duty Judge” on a weekly basis. If the program is imple- mented on a permanent basis, the “Duty Judge” will be responsible for signing E- Warrants.
Academy award winner, Jamie Foxx portrayed Ray Charles and Harry Lennix played Joe Adams in the movie ‘Ray’.
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