Frederick Douglass NOW March 5, 2011

Roger Guenveur Smith’s Frederick Douglass NOW is a monologue inspired by the life and work of the self-liberated abolitionist and pioneering feminist Frederick Douglass. Smith has edited Douglass' classic 19th Century texts into a jazz-infused narrative, bookended by original writing of Beckettian force to produce the kind of edgy stylistic mash-up of which vital contemporary theater is made. Originally commissioned at the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York, Smith’s Douglass has been continually refined in the tradition of Hal Holbrook's ever-evolving Mark Twain Tonight. Smith has performed Frederick Douglass NOW at prestigious venues on both sides of the Atlantic, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Official Website: http://www.newhouse-center.org/