been photographed by photographer Lyle Ashton Harris and Dawoud Bey. She was a writer in residence at Hedgebrook Women Playwright retreat on Whidbey Island, Washington in 2011 that culminated in a reading of her work at ACT Theater. Acting School Daze In 1988 Rogers played Doris Witherspoon in Spike Lee's film, School Daze about intra-racial prejudice in HBCU academia. It was an early film for most of the actors and most of the stars and crew were African American. The film co-starred Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Ossie Davis and Kadeem Hardison amongst others. Daughters of the Dust In 1991 Rogers appeared in Julie Dash's film Daughters of the Dust. The film took place in 1902 about a matriarchal family during the Great Migration. Eula, Rogers' character, is raped by a white man and the fear of lynching gives her family no recourse to investigate her pregnancy. The film has been noted to have influenced Beyonce's 2016 album Lemonade. “Daughters was a major aesthetic leap forward for black cinema in that it did not mimic Hollywood storytelling but drew on European art house films, African traditions and created its own idiosyncratic style,” said Nelson George, filmmaker. The cinematographer for Daughters of the Dust was Arthur Jafa. Other films Rogers appeared as herself in the film Brooklyn Boheme (2011), which documented the New Black Arts Movement in Fort Greene in the 1980s and 1990s. She is featured in Kerry James Marshall's film The Doppler Incident (1997) and was a frequent subject in the photographs of Lorna Simpson. Filmography 1988: School Daze – as Doris Witherspoon 1991: Daughters of the Dust – as Eula Peazant 1994: Fresh Kill – as Cello player in locker 2005: The Flooded Playground (Video short) – as The Singing Tree 2010: Window on Your Present – as Girl On Shoulders 2011: Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA (Documentary) – as Eula Peazant 2012: Brooklyn Boheme (Documentary) – as herself Publications Rogers's works as a playwright include The Bride Who Became Frightened When She Saw Life Open, The Doll Plays, and Scooping the Darkness Empty. Awards Rogers has won grants from the Jim Henson Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting in 2004, and the Rockefeller Foundation. References External links 1959 births Living people African-American artists Actresses from New York City Artists from New York City American