Rodney King

In this riveting, improvised performance, Smith unravels the myth of the late Rodney King, revealing a man besieged by the Los Angeles Police Department and an unrelenting media spotlight. Smith’s rhythm-charged narrative navigates King’s fatal descent into his backyard pool, the peaceful punctuation to a life unwittingly distinguished by violence. “Can we,” King implores from the deep end, “all get along?”

Writer, performer and director Roger Guenveur Smith adapted his Obie Award-winning solo, A Huey P. Newton Story, into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, scored by Marc Anthony Thompson. Their many collaborations for the international stage also include Iceland, Who Killed Bob Marley?, The Watts Towers Project, and Juan and John.