Naima Yetunde Ince performs at the La Pregunta Arts Cafe in Harlem, New York City

Justin had met the spoken word poet and actress Naima Yetunde Ince while the two were both attending SUNY Purchase. In 2008, Naima reached out to Justin to make a documentary on her first one-act play, “Men Always Leave”, which she wrote and directed. Essentially what she asked of Justin was to document the process of the play’s development, from early rehearsals all the way leading through to the play’s debut showcase in the fall of that year. For several weeks in the fall of ’08, Justin filmed Naima and her co-director, Ronald Hendricks, Jr., as they lead a cast of actors through the process of memorizing lines and finding the essence of their individual on-stage characters. Justin spent the winter and spring of 2009 editing the footage together into a concise account of the theatre play’s evolution, from its early inception as a poem and into an elaborate stage production that wowed audiences upon its inaugural run at SUNY Purchase.

“Men Always Leave” Teaser from Justin Thomas on Vimeo.