Roger Guenveur Smith News

Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films announced today it has partnered with award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay (“13th,” “A Wrinkle in Time”) on a first-look deal for television and digital media.

The Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC), one of the most acclaimed new play developmental programs in the country, announces its celebratory 20th Anniversary season with an extraordinary program of playwrights, new play workshop presentations and special performance events from August 6 through 13, 2017 in Ojai, California.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), the Bay Area's most innovative arts institution, announces Transform, a two-week showcase of dance, music, theater, and public convenings. Occurring each fall and spring, Transform places YBCA's curatorial voice front and center and builds on its nearly 25-year history as the Bay Area's cornerstone organization for presenting cutting-edge contemporary art. Taking place September 14 through September 23, 2017, the inaugural festival presents newly commissioned works by nine groundbreaking Bay Area artists, including dance artists Jesse Hewit and Larry Arrington, contemporary ballet company Amy Seiwert Imagery, contemporary dance company RAWdance, and more. They have been invited to devise world-premiere works in response to the provocation, "Why Citizenship?"

RODNEY KING is a powerful, highly relevant, piece of theatre/poetry written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith.

Artists Repertory Theatre presented RODNEY KING, written and performed by acclaimed actor and performance artist Roger Guenveur Smith.  Netflix will release the new film, directed by Spike Lee, starring Smith, on April 28.

Artists Repertory Theatre will present Rodney King, written and performed by acclaimed actor and performance artist Roger Guenveur Smith. This production at Artists Rep will be the final stage performances of Smith's piece that has been touring since 2012. Netflix will release the new film Rodney King, directed by Spike Lee, starring Smith, on April 28. Youth and community engagement programming surrounds the four public performances, and one free student performance, held for Rodney King, April 21 through April 23, 2017. 

The world premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu's new play 'Good Grief' opened at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre on Sunday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. Directed by Patricia McGregor, Anyanwu also performs in 'Good Grief,' which runs through March 26, 2017. This is the first of Anyanwu's plays to receive a full professional production. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening festivities below!

Award-winning actor, writer and director Roger Guenveur Smith announced today that he will be performing two of his critically acclaimed and award-winning one-man shows FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW and RODNEY KING in March at Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. 

Artists Repertory Theatre presents THE FUTURE SHOW by acclaimed performance artist, Deborah Pearson. A multi-year hit at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, THE FUTURE SHOW is a unique in-the-moment theatrical experience written and performed by the London-based Pearson.

Artists Repertory Theatre presents THE FUTURE SHOW by acclaimed performance artist, Deborah Pearson. A multi-year hit at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, THE FUTURE SHOW is a unique in-the-moment theatrical experience written and performed by the London-based Pearson.

In RISE UP: THE LEGACY OF NAT TURNER, viewers will get a different perspective into his notorious legacy that extends beyond this rebellion. From executive producer Nate Parker, the one-hour documentary premieres today, Oct. 7, at 10/9c on National Geographic Channel

In RISE UP: THE LEGACY OF NAT TURNER, viewers will get a different perspective into his notorious legacy that extends beyond this rebellion. From executive producer Nate Parker, the one-hour documentary premieres on today, Oct. 7, at 10/9c on National Geographic Channel

Writer-director Nate Parker reclaims the title of D.W. Griffith's KKK-boosting 1916 milestone for this epic chronicle of the life of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion against white plantation owners in 1831 Virginia.

August Wilson's hard-hitting 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' opened September 11 and continues through October 16, 2016, at the Center Theatre Group/ Mark Taper Forum. 'Ma Rainey...' is part of Wilson's American Century Cycle of 10 plays chronicling African American experience in 20th Century USA. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!

Los Angeles Performance Practice and The Bootleg Theater, in association with Aurora Nova Productions, presents the Los Angeles premiere of Nassim Soleimanpour's slyly inventive White Rabbit Red Rabbit as part of the 2016 LAX  (Live Arts Exchange) Festival. 

 Nate Parker and the cast, Producers, and Executive Producers of The Birth of a Nation are investing in the next generation of diverse independent creativity with the Sundance Institute | The Birth of a Nation Fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers participating in the Institute's Ignite program. Parker shared details at Sundance Institute's NIGHT BEFORE NEXT benefit at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles this evening, where he also received the Institute's annual Vanguard Award presented to him by actor and Sundance alum Michael B. Jordan. Parker's The Birth of a Nation was supported by the Institute's renowned Feature Film Program for three years before its premiere, and won both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Summer may be winding down but SummerStage, NYC's largest free performing arts festival still has several great theater and spoken word performances left. 

Fox Searchlight has releasedthe official trailer for THE BIRTH OF A NATION. Based on a true story, the film was written and directed by Nate Parker, who also stars.

Award-winning Los Angeles writer-performers Richard Montoya ('Chavez Ravine' and 'Water & Power') and Roger Guenveur Smith ('Rodney King' and 'The Watts Tower Project') take part in a DouglasPlus: Conversations event, 'Excavating Venice of America,' today Wednesday, June 1 at 8 p.m., at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Award-winning Los Angeles writer-performers Richard Montoya ("Chavez Ravine" and "Water & Power") and Roger Guenveur Smith ("Rodney King" and "The Watts Tower Project") will take part in a DouglasPlus: Conversations event, "Excavating Venice of America," on Wednesday, June 1 at 8 p.m., at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre.