Actor, Writer Daniel Beaty Brings ‘Chapter and Verse’ to the Screen

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Beaty moved to New York City after completing graduate school at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, just two weeks before September 11, 2001. A Yale University undergraduate, Beaty moved to Prospect Heights in central Brooklyn, where he lived in a room, which he refers to as “a box,” for $325 per month. He recalls how he was shaken awake around five o’clock every morning by the roar of semitrailer trucks passing over the nearby Brooklyn-Queen’s Expressway.

Executively produced by acclaimed film director Antoine Fuqua, Chapter & Verse also co-stars Loretta Devine, Omari Hardwick, and Selenis Levya. Jamal Joseph, Beaty’s film partner and co-writer of Chapter & Verse, also directed the film, which is currently in theaters.

Beaty and Joseph first connected through a mutual friend, Voza Rivers, a marketing and theater consultant in New York City. A professor and author, Joseph also spent time in prison, as a result of his association with the Black Panther Party. Joseph and Beaty’s shared similar ideology helped fuel their vision for Chapter & Verse, as both are passionate about the issues of mass incarceration, prison reform, and community activism.

Chapter & Verse is an example of art imitating life, “I think it’s the ability to see members of our community who are often overlooked and don’t have a voice,” says Beaty. “It’s the transformative power of love. It’s the myriad of challenges we face in our community; love is the greatest asset.”

The project was initially launched during a meeting between Joseph and Fuqua, in which Joseph was exploring different writing opportunities and shared a draft of the script. Fuqua was impressed and offered support. “He saw it and loved it,” says Beaty. “He started writing notes and making edits. He agreed to lend his name and time to the project.”

Beaty says his first feature film experience was incredible. “It was the most amazing experience I’ve had to date in my creative career,” he says. “Most of the images of [African Americans] in media do not show us in our full humanity. As black men, we are often demonized and sometimes eroticized. I want to be able to use my gift as an artist to reveal our humanity. I believe if we can truly see each other, we will be less likely to try to hurt each other. The desire to use art to help transform and make our world a better place is so important to me. To be able to do that in the medium of film—which can allow us to see at a deeper level, but also reach so many people—is very exciting to me. As a storyteller, that’s the level of revelation I want my art to give.”

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