The production is a one-man performance that traces a personal and historical portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat through storytelling, spoken word, and improvisation. Drawing on shared experiences from the 1980s Los Angeles art and music scene, the piece connects Basquiat’s visual work with the cultural and political environments that shaped it, blending biography with lived memory.

The show is written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith (Do the Right Thing, A Huey P. Newton Story), whose creative relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat informed both artists’ work. Smith’s contributions influenced Basquiat’s canvases and later inspired the character “Smiley” in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. The performance has been presented in conjunction with major Basquiat retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum and MOCA Los Angeles, as well as at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, and features live sound design by Marc Anthony Thompson.