Updated August 2006
Upcoming
Productions:
Denmark
What is our commitment to fulfill our personal hopes and dreams,
versus our obligation to a greater public good, at the time
when the need for that greater public good is dire? With his
distinctive flair, Charles Smith explores these provocative
questions in his searing historical drama about freed slave
Denmark Vesey, who in 1822, used his new earnings as a carpenter,
not to free the woman he loved but to plan an extensive slave
uprising in Charleston, South Carolina.
The
Sara Lee Foundation is the Exclusive Sponsor of the World
Premiere of Charles Smith’s Denmark, Victory Gardens
Theater’s Inaugural Production at the Biograph Theater.
Denmark
will be directed by Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director
Dennis Zacek. It will feature Velma Austin, Anthony Fleming
III, Kenny Head, and A.C. Smith.
Victory
Gardens Theater at the Biograph
2433
N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago
, Il 60614
September
29 – November 12, 2006
For
tickets and information about Denmark, call the Victory
Gardens Box Office, (773) 871-3000, or visit
http://www.victorygardens.org/default.asp.
Joyce
Award
In
January 2006, Charles Smith was one of four artists to receive
a 2006 Joyce Award. These grants of $50,000 were designed
to support the commissioning of work by artists of color by
Midwest cultural organizations. The award to Smith and the
Indiana Repertory Theatre is to support the commission a new
play by Smith which will explore one of the darkest days in
Indiana history: the 1930 Marion lynching.
Smith
will relate the story of two teenage black boys who were brutally
lynched, and the triumphant escape of another, James Cameron,
who was known to be the only living survivor of a lynching
attempt. In a unique approach, Smith will conduct a thorough
process of research and interviews with historians, survivors,
and activists; The IRT will simultaneously launch a series
of public awareness events to engage local and national organizations
involved with civil and human rights.
For
more information go to
http://www.joycefdn.org/programs/culture/culturemain-fs.html
Northwestern
Press
Charles
Smith has also been commissioned by Northwestern Press to
write a play about the innovative African American scientist
Percy Julian.
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