Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College

"Rodney King" is a rhythm-driven solo performance of improvised movement and spoken word poetry. Created by internationally acclaimed, award winning actor Roger Guenveur Smith, known for his roles in Spike Lee classics such as "Do The Right Thing" and his Obie Award-winning solo performance of "A Huey P. Newton Story", the piece is a powerful and riveting portrait of an icon of American history. Written in the wake of Rodney King's accidental drowning death in 2012, the piece offers a meditation of a flawed, goodhearted man, unraveling the myth of “the first reality TV star,” and by extension, revealing America’s endlessly complicated relationship with its racial past and present.