As the recent abomination in Ferguson, MO, attests, the content is highly relevant. Or, you could just get over to PlayMakers and take in Smith’s extraordinary rhetorical feat. If, like 2014’s first-year class of college students, you had not yet been born, you can read a reasonably balanced short version of King’s story on Wikipedia. The government sent in the military, but it was more likely King’s press conference plea: “Can we all get along?” that kept all of LA from burning to the ground. It was not, it turned out, the revolution, but it was televised. Murder, grievous injury, mayhem, arson, looting, RAGE ran through the streets like mercury from a blown out thermometer. When those men were found not guilty, rioting began in Los Angeles. That video went around the world in hours, and its existence made a mockery of the “justice” meted out to the officers in their 1992 trial in Simi Valley, CA. If you had attained the age of reason by March 1991, you will remember, with shame, something about Rodney King being beaten within a millimeter of his life on the side of the road outside Los Angeles by a uniformed policeman, while three other policemen watched–as did a man on a nearby balcony, through the lens of his video camera. If you do not already have tickets for Rodney King, get them now, because Roger Guenveur Smith has made a remarkable artwork out of some particularly harrowing history. Often one-person shows, they tend to address issues that range from difficult to baffling, and the presentations are structured to include post-show discussions–these are sometimes as provocative as the shows themselves. PlayMakers Repertory Company‘s second stage series, PRC2, generally presents works that are smaller and fiercer than the Mainstage series can be. The performance of Rodney King is sponsored in part by a grant from the Chancellor's Diversity Fund and support from the Cato College of Education.Roger Guenveur Smith in his one-man show RODNEY KING, at PRC2 through Sept. Immediately after the performance, Steve Crump of WBTV will lead an audience conversation with Smith, addressing the actor’s work in light of the recent unrest in Charlotte that resulted from the Keith Lamont Scott shooting. Admission is free, and no reservations are required. The performance on Tuesday, January 10, will take place in the Anne R. Twenty-five years later, Smith’s dramatic and poignant “interrogation” of King speaks to both the past and the present. In 1992, the trial and acquittal of the police who had brutally beat Rodney King the year before sparked violent protests in Los Angeles. He describes his fusion of archival narrative and lyrical movement as “a journey through the many lives and times” of King The New York Times has called the show "sinuous, complicated, and deeply moving.” Smith created Rodney King in 2012, shortly after King was found drowned in his swimming pool. Smith, who has a successful career in film ( American Gangster, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, The Birth of a Nation), television and on stage, was invited to UNC Charlotte by Assistant Professor of Theatre Kaja Dunn, whom he has mentored since 2012 and whose research focuses on the role of theatre in addressing social issues. Award-winning actor, writer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith will come to the UNC Charlotte campus on January 10 to work with students in the Department of Theatre and perform his one-man show, Rodney King.
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