The Charles H. Wright Museum
of African American History
September 26-28, 2024
The Wright Performances: Roger Guenveur Smith
Roger Guenveur Smith gets it all and gets it brilliantly - New York Times
The Wright Performances Season
The Wright welcomes you to the inaugural series of presentations in its newly renovated theater. This first-class small theater offers 284 seats where every seat has the best view of the stage. For this opening season, The Wright has carefully curated a collection of multi-disciplinary performances and lectures by nationally known talent and local performers.
About Roger Guenveur Smith
Internationally acclaimed actor, writer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith has created a prolific body of work for stage and screen.
Known for such roles as Nate in Ridley Scott's "American Gangster" (2007), Rudy in Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992), and Smiley in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" (1989), Smith has also been featured on the HBO series "K Street," "Oz," and in "Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative." He adapted his Obie Award-winning solo performance of A Huey P. Newton Story into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, directed by his longtime colleague Spike Lee, with whom he continues to collaborate in a relationship which is unparalleled in the American cinema.
Three Solo Performances
During his appearance at The Wright he will be performing three one-man plays: Frederick Douglass Now, Otto Frank, and In Honor of Jean Michel Basquiat. Each evening will showcase a facet of Smith's distinctive history driven work for the stage which spans centuries and continents.
Performance Schedule and Tickets
- Frederick Douglass NOW | Thursday, 9/26 at 7:30 pm
Smith's signature FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW, inspired by the pioneering abolitionist and feminist, illuminates our present moment through a dynamic reimagining of Douglass' classic 19th-century texts. The Los Angeles Times notes that with FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW, "Smith's purposeful authorial control is at its zenith, and his performance technique remains mesmeric. A personal benchmark for this remarkable artist."
Join us afterwards for or an evening of reflection, dialogue, and inspiration at Artist Talk Back: A Conversation with Roger Guenveur Smith and jessica Care moore. This event offers a rare and profound opportunity for the audience to engage with two thought-provoking artists in an intimate conversation about the intersection of art, history, and activism.
- Otto Frank | Friday, 9/27 at 7:30 pm
OTTO FRANK, the father of diarist Anne Frank, speaks to his daughter from beyond her time and his own, as the only survivor of his immediate family, and the steward of her work. OTTO FRANK comes to the Wright from acclaimed bicoastal runs at the Public and Magic Theaters, where it was lauded last season as the Bay Area's Best Solo Show. "Time past becomes time present. An actor's feat of single-minded control." -San Francisco Chronicle
- In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat | Saturday, 9/28 at 7:30 pm
IN HONOR OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT is Smith's intimate meditation on his late friend and collaborator, whose radical vision continues to interrogate and provoke. Smith performed this work for the Basquiat retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, where he and the artist met. For the Gagosian Gallery's recent survey of Basquiat's West Coast work, Smith engaged in public conversation with Basquiat's niece, filmmaker Sophia Heriveaux.
Smith adapted his Obie Award-winning solo A HUEY P. NEWTON STORY into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm. His Bessie Award-winning RODNEY KING is currently streaming on Netflix. Both NEWTON and KING were directed for the screen by Smith's longtime colleague Spike Lee, with whom he has devised a prolific body of collaborations unparalleled in the American cinema. Among them is the classic DO THE RIGHT THING, for which he created the stuttering artist/arsonist Smiley.
Membership Perks
Free admission, exclusive exhibition previews, gift shop discounts: at The Wright, it pays to be a member.