About the Show
Obie Award-winning actor, playwright, director Roger Guenveur Smith honors his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat in an intimate solo performance which navigates the life and enduring legacy of the legendary artist. Basquiat and Smith met in Los Angeles, where Basquiat was painting in a Venice studio, and Smith was rapping as “Hollywatts” on the fertile 1980s club scene. Smith’s politically charged soliloquies found their way onto Basquiat’s canvas, and Smith eventually created “Smiley,” the Basquiat-inspired artist/arsonist for Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing. In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat has been presented for retrospectives of the artist’s work at the Brooklyn Museum and MOCA Los Angeles, as well as an acclaimed run at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre. Basquiat features live sound design by Marc Anthony Thompson.
