In Honor of Jean-michel Basquiat

Created & Performed by Roger Guenveur Smith
Live Sound by Marc Anthony Thompson
Lighting by Anne Militello of Vortex Lighting
Scenic Element by James Cowan of Rewarding, LLC

Outside In is thrilled to present this stunning piece as the first play in our newly built main theatre.

Roger Guenveur Smith returns to Los Angeles with his In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat. It was initially improvised for Basquiat retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as commemorative events at Bootleg Theater. Smith recently engaged in conversation with filmmaker Sophia Heriveaux, Basquiat’s niece, for the Gagosian Gallery’s comprehensive survey of the New York artist’s West Coast work.

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 frequently found their way onto Basquiat’s canvas, and Smith eventually created “Smiley,” a Basquiat-inspired character for Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing. Tragically, as Roger was improvising the artist/arsonist Smiley in Jean-Michel’s Brooklyn, Basquiat passed away in Manhattan.