“When he died, I was struck with how much I was moved, how much this tragic figure mattered to me,” Smith told Variety. The events led Smith to explore King’s life as the basis for a one-man show. He is privy to what’s going on right now in Ukraine … and let’s not forget about Somalia – just as he’s privy to what happened in Charleston, Pittsburgh and Christchurch.King died in 2012 by drowning, following a lifetime of battling alcohol and drug abuse and repeated run-ins with the law. How is his ghost seeing present-day Europe as Russia invades Ukraine? Otto lived through the worst atrocities of World War II. I should like to think that Otto Frank was privy to that. He was shot and killed in the process of saving untold people. An 88-year-old white supremacist walked into the museum with a rifle, and a young Black security guard stepped in front of him. That's where we take people imaginatively in the theater - just as Otto Frank talks about things that happened after he was deceased, the shooting at the National Holocaust Museum. So I imagined that Huey had watched an interview of this young Biggie, Christopher Wallace, on the streets of Brooklyn. Everyone who came to the theater that weekend, that's all they were thinking of. How do you get historical figures to talk about contemporary issues?Īs with all of our pieces that are historically driven, we don't want the audience to simply come to the theater and then leave the theater and say, “Wasn't it horrible? What happened way back then?” We want our work to resonate in the present moment.įor example, I was doing in New York when Biggie Smalls was murdered in Los Angeles. Huey Newton is a different character than Otto Frank, but I see similarities in how you built your presentations of both men. Newton Story” in a theater in Los Angeles. So the first dilemma is, “Do I share this? Do I destroy this? Do I get it out there internationally as my daughter would probably like me to do?” He went with his daughter's wishes: She desired a certain notoriety. I think he's kind of an enigma, even though he lived a long and productive life as a steward of his daughter's work. Otto Frank is a man about whom we should know much more. I'm the father of two daughters, and certainly this story moved me before I went to Amsterdam. You have been involved in representing other historic figures, whether it's collaborating with Spike Lee alongside Denzel Washington for “Malcolm X,” Huey Newton, Rodney King. Of course, he was not, but he was reunited with the diary that he had given to Anne for her 13th birthday. The image that kept coming back to me was of a man who would come back to what was his home - his improvised home after the war - knowing that he had lost his wife in the death camp, but hoping that he would be reunited with his daughters. I stood in line with everybody else and I was extraordinarily inspired. It was a place that I knew that I had to go to. Roger Guenveur Smith: I had the opportunity to go there because I was invited to do my “ Rodney King” solo in Amsterdam. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.īrian Watt: I read that you got the idea for this performance after visiting Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam. Smith spoke with KQED morning host Brian Watt about his decision to embody Otto Frank, and how he represents contemporary issues focused on race and religion. He draws on the style of his other one-man shows - which center Black historical figures such as Huey Newton and Rodney King. Smith, perhaps best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee (“Do The Right Thing,” “Malcolm X”), returns home for a limited run (through March 27) of his solo performance piece “Otto Frank,” which runs through March 27 at the Magic Theatre’s Fort Mason site in San Francisco. “It is necessary - this conversation that he has with his daughter beyond her time and beyond his time as well.” “In this particular international moment, what he brings to the table is extraordinary and extraordinarily vital,” he said. Berkeley-born actor Roger Guenveur Smith is channeling the ghost of Anne Frank’s father, Otto, during a fraught time in Europe, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues.
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