Perpich Students Attend Roger Guenveur Smith’s “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat” at Penumbra Theatre

November 4, 2024

On October 23rd, Tory Peterson, Theater Instructor, brought several students to Penumbra Theatre to see Roger Guenveur Smith’s “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat”. Obie Award-winning actor, playwright, and director, Roger Guenveur Smith, returned to Penumbra with an intimate one-man show honoring his friend and collaborator Jean-Michel Basquiat. Weaving personal stories and historical anecdotes with his improvisational performance style, Guenveur Smith explored the legacy of one of the most defining artists of the 20th century and his enduring impact.

Roger Guenveur Smith (center) poses with students from Perpich Arts High School

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.

“It was one of the most captivating performances I’ve seen in quite some time and the students were awestruck by the performance and Guenveur Smith’s connection to the audience through storytelling,” said Peterson. “All the pieces (language, voice, lights, music, soundscape, and imagery) were phenomenal and it was quite beautiful to be in the theater with the students and Roger.”

The students in attendance represented Theater, Musical Theater, Literary Arts, and Media Arts.

One of those students, Greta Kunene (Musical Theater 2025), was thrilled to have the experience. “Roger Guenveur Smith has been my favorite actor and one of my idols ever since I saw his ‘Rodney King’ performance on Netflix last year while I was doing research for my art history individual project,” said Kunene. “When Tory first told me [Guenveur Smith] was coming to Penumbra, I was ecstatic! He genuinely has given me so much inspiration this past year and has helped me stay hopeful in my journey as a performing artist. Seeing him live was absolutely life changing. The way that he uses his voice and body to tell a story is just incredible. Getting to meet him after the show was like a dream come true. People often say ‘Never meet your heroes’ but in this case, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience getting to meet and talk to mine.”

Greta Kunene (Musical Theater 2025) poses with Roger Guenveur Smith (left) after his performance on October 23, 2024

Roger Guenveur Smith is an internationally acclaimed actor, writer, and director who has created a prolific body of work on stage and screen. He adapted his Obie Award-winning solo performance of “A Huey P. Newton Story” into a Peabody Award-winning telefilm, directed by his longtime colleague Spike Lee, with whom he continues to collaborate in a relationship which is unparalleled in the American cinema. For Lee’s Oscar-nominated “Do The Right Thing”, Smith improvised the stuttering hero, Smiley, after his debut as fraternity pledge Yoda in Lee’s first studio film, “school daze”. The eclectic range of characters expanded with a Russian roulette-playing gangster in “Malcolm X”, a guitar-playing cop in “Get On The Bus”, the street philosopher Big Time Willie in “He Got Game”, a hardnose detective in “Summer Of Sam”, and an opportunistic insurance salesman in “Chi-Raq”.

Penumbra Theatre creates professional productions that are artistically excellent, thought provoking, relevant, and illuminate the human condition through the prism of the African American experience.

Founded in 1976 by award winning director Lou Bellamy, Penumbra is a nationally recognized organization housing Minnesota’s only Black professional theatre company. Penumbra has earned tremendous accolades, producing nearly 200 plays, over 30 premieres, and has cultivated generations of artists of color. “Through our powerful art, we open hearts, rehearse strategies for change, and dispel dehumanizing narratives of people of color,” states their website.

Today, under the leadership of Sarah Bellamy, Penumbra is evolving into its next life cycle: a performing arts campus and center for racial healing that nurtures Black artists, advances equity, and facilitates wellness for individuals and community. The space will center the Black experience, learn from and support people of color who are not Black, and welcome white individuals interested in building resiliency and competency for racial equity and racial healing work. Penumbra will stand in solidarity with and support indigenous communities upon whose land the work is located.