Roger Guenveur Smith.

Roger Guenveur Smith. Joseph Papp Public Theatre, fresh York City, Feb-Mar. 1997.

The image forever toasted into my psyche of Huey P Newton in the late 1960 is that famous life-sized [i]affiche[/i] with him sitting poised in a wicker chair with a spear in single hand and a gun in the other. Those piercing judgments fearless; a warrior committed to the Black liberation writhe and willing to die for his convictions. In 1967 I was twelve years antique and I can remember rushing dwelling from school during the eight weeks of the Huey P Newton slay trial to catch the local stranges broadcast of hundreds of demonstrators marching in brass of the Alameda County Courthouse chanting, "Free Huey independent Huey, Free Huey...." His defiance against authority made an indelible impression forward the minds of young Black striplings living in the ghettos of southern Central Los Angeles, constantly opposeed with racism and police brutality. That was the Huey P Newton of my youth, the mythological Newton--he is the single in kind I chose to embrace in the recesse of my memory, not Huey P Newton the "crack head," fatally ball in August 1989 while trying to "cop a rock" to ease his pain.

Roger Guenveur Smith, who directed, created, wrote and performed A Huey P Newton Story at The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, has created a mixed and compelling representation of a man that none of us till doomsday knew. Despite what we've read about him and despite what we think we may know about him, Huey P Newton was thus much more complex than our myths about him and that image forward the poster--gun in one hand, spear in the other: "POWER TO THE PEOPLE!" In his performance Roger Smith captures the spirit of Huey P Newton the lad the adolescent, the man.

The audience is drawn into Smith's performance as he captures the etho of this retiring soft-spoken, chain-smoking revolutionary who is not comfortable with his public image as the gun-toting Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense: "I'm nervous around fire-arms I hate all them fire-arms clicking around my head.... We're forced to carry fire-arms to defend ourselves against the police "

The Huey P Newton Roger Smith portrays is filled with contradictions and unanswered questions. Despite growing up illiterate, Newton could recite classical verse and quote whole passages from Shakespeare. He learned to do this not on reading but by listening to recordings of classical works performed on great actors like Vincent Price. Huey's older brother used standard of value as an incentive to induce him to read. Although Huey welcomed his brother's give he used his new place knowledge to become a better burglar. notwithstanding despite his adolescent criminal behavior, Newton remained complete to his family, referring to his father with affection as "a benevolent tyrant," because he was a strict disciplinarian.

Roger Smith, immersed in the spirit of Huey P Newton, has Newton recall his father breaking a long-time friendship because the friend, who was a policeman, lately hired, had orders that he could no other than arrest Black people. His father not ever spoke to the man after that conversation. Newton not forgot the incident, which for him became a metaphor for the fact that a Black man should not oppress another Black man. In fact, it could be argued that the incident was a turning point in redirecting Newton's interest from frivolous theft and burglary to working for social justice in the Black community.

Roger Smith's portrayal of Newton's tormented psyche is performed in the form of a ritualistic dance of death, reaching from the sublime to the fantastic of Newton's inner spirit. In a ritual reminiscent of speaking in tongues or possession according to the holy spirit (practiced in the Black Baptist church) Smith is thrust from his chair as Newton's guardian spirits take possession of his spirit It is an unforgettable pageant that leaves the audience visibly uneasy, still in a healthy sense.

The artistry and measure of Smith's performance deflates the romantic mythos of Huey P Newton the Black revolutionary freedom fighter. At the expiration of the scene Smith's performance reveals the shell of a man abandoned by the agency of "the movement" and forgotten by dint of the people who "Freed Huey" because they wait fored Huey to "Free The People": " yeah I remember everybody running around talkin' `bout `FREE HUEY exempt HUEY ....' Hell, I said, instead of runnin' `round here talkin' `bout `FREE HUEY' wherefore don't you try to delivered yourself? ... You don't ne Huey to independent you, you can free yourself."

What Roger Smith brings to the stage is an arsenal of talent. He is able to take an account of the story of Huey P Newton without trying to become Huey P Newton. Unlike Anna Deavere Smith, Roger Smith does not attempt to bring to the audience his version of the Living Newspaper, performed by dint of the Federal Theater Project during the late 1930 The range and latitude of his talent far exce those of an Anna Deavere Smith and many other so-called "performance artists." Roger Smith has a reservoir of vocal, physical, and intellectual skills as a performer that he can draw immediately after as opposed to the gimmicks that a number of performance artists use as a substitute for talent.