Roger Guenveur Smith’s Rodney King

History, poetry and tragedy collide when Obie Award-winning actor, writer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith tackles the thorny odyssey of Rodney King—deemed 'the first reality TV star'—from the harsh initial glare of the national spotlight as the victim of police brutality to his involuntary martyrdom that ignited the L.A. riots to his lonely death at the bottom of a swimming pool. Smith's solo performance seamlessly fuses facts and friction, motion and emotion into a gripping narrative that poses impossible questions while illuminating his subject with grace and empathy. Co-sponsored by American Cultures & Global Contexts; AntiRacism, Inc.; the Black Student Union; and Hemispheric South/s Research Initiative.