In Honor of Jean-michel Basquiat
Presented by Outside In Theatre
About
Created & Performed by Roger Guenveur Smith
Live Sound by Marc Anthony Thompson
Scenic Element by James Cowan of Rewarding, LLC
Roger Guenveur Smith returns to the local stage with IN HONOR OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, called by the Minnesota Star Tribune “spellbinding …a storytelling master class.” Roger and Jean-Michel befriended each other in Los Angeles, with Basquiat painting in a Venice studio, and Smith rapping in the fertile 1980s club scene as “Hollywatts.”
Throughout the decade, Smith’s politically charged soliloquies found their way onto Basquiat’s canvas, and Smith eventually created “Smiley,” the Basquiat-inspired artist/arsonist for Spike Lee’s classic DO THE RIGHT THING.
Outside In is thrilled that this stunning solo performance will grace our newly constructed main theatre.
TALKBACK SERIES
After select performances, join us for powerful post-show conversations led by some of today’s leading voices in art, history, and culture.
Each talkback deepens the dialogue between Basquiat’s legacy, Roger Guenveur Smith’s piece, and the world we live in now.
OCTOBER 19th | Robin D.G. Kelly
Robin D. G. Kelley is Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Freedom Scholar Award. His acclaimed books include Thelonious Monk, Freedom Dreams, Hammer and Hoe, and Race Rebels. He is co-editor of several volumes and has published essays in The Nation, New Yorker, New York Times, and more. He hosted the podcast Erroll Garner Uncovered and has written liner notes for numerous jazz legends and emerging artists.
OCTOBER 26th | ALISON ROSE JEFFERSON
Alison Rose Jefferson, M.H.C., Ph.D., is a publicly engaged independent historian, heritage conservation consultant, and third-generation Californian. She recovers African American experience marginalized in U.S. histories as a tool for social justice. Her book Living the California Dream won the 2020 Miriam Matthews Ethnic History Award. The Public History projects Jefferson has completed include, Santa Monica’s Belmar History + Art and South Los Angeles’ Angels Walk LA. Central Avenue’s Historic Trail. Her current projects include working as consultant coordinator/editor/historian of the “African Americans and the National Park Service, 1872-1965” study project that will be a multi-author essay volume online publication which is a collaboration between the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and the National Park Service. Jefferson’s work spans documentaries, exhibitions, and public programming, and has been featured in major media outlets. Learn more at alisonrosejefferson.com.
OCTOBER 30th | DOMINQUE MORISSEAU
Dominque Morisseau is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle): Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company/Broadway, Tony Award nom for Best Play), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit ’67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT). Additional plays include: Bad Kreyòl (Signature Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club), Confederates (Signature Theatre), Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theatre), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre), Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre) and Follow Me To Nellie’s (Premiere Stages). She is the Tony Award–nominated bookwriter on the Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations (Imperial Theatre) and is currently working on her latest, Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical (ACT). She served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series “Shameless.” Awards include: PoNY Fellowship, NBTF August Wilson Playwriting Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, one of Variety’s Women of Impact for 2018, and a MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow.
NOVEMBER 2ND | DR. STEPHANIE L. BATISTE
Stephanie L. Batiste is Professor of English at UCSB, with affiliate appointments in Black Studies, Theater and Dance, and Comparative Literature. She directs the Hemispheric South/s Research Initiative and co-edits NYU Press’s Performance and American Cultures series. Her book Darkening Mirrors that explores race, power, and performance in Depression-era Black culture won awards from the largest academic organizations in two fields, the William Sanders Scarborough Award from the Modern Language Association and honorable mention for best book from the Association for Theater in Higher Education. Her forthcoming creative critical book, SpacesBetween: Resurrective Aesthetics in Millennial Black Performance, examines grief, violence, and community in Los Angeles. A poet, playwright, and performer, Batiste’s creative work has been published in Foundry and the Offing and staged nationally and internationally. She has held academic roles at Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and UCLA, and has consulted for the Smithsonian and National Park Service.
NOVEMBER 6ND | Christian Campbell
Christian Campbell is the author of the acclaimed poetry collection Running the Dusk (2010), which won the UK’s Aldeburgh Prize and was a finalist for the Forward Prize for the Best First Collection and the Cave Canem Prize among other awards. Campbell studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and his work has been featured and reviewed in The New York Times, The Guardian, Small Axe, The Financial Times and elsewhere. He has received awards and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, Arvon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writers Conference and elsewhere, and delivered the annual Derek Walcott Lecture for the Nobel Laureate Festival in St. Lucia. He has contributed to books on visual artists for major exhibits on both sides of the Atlantic and won the Art Writing Award from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries for his work on Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is a 2023-24 Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris.
TICKET INFO
General admission: $40
Students/Seniors: $25
DATES
OPENING NIGHT:
October 16 – November 9, 2025
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
8:00PM
TALKBACK SERIES:
October 19 – November 6, 2025
Sundays – After the performance
LOCATION
OI Main Theatre
5317 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042