Rodney King at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

An Obie Award winner for his one-man show A Huey P. Newton Story, acclaimed actor/writer/director Roger Guenveur Smith's (American Gangster) latest biographical drama delves into the controversial life of Rodney King. During an arrest after a high-speed chase in 1991, King suffered a vicious beating from LAPD cops. A videotape of the incident surfaced, leading to a public outcry, but a year later, it was the officers' acquittals that touched off the deadly and destructive Los Angeles riots, which left more than 50 dead, 2,000 injured and a city in chaos. King then appeared in front of the media to issue his famous plea, "Can we all get along?" This is the latest in Smith's series of solo shows based on historical figures, including Frederick Douglass, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Juan Marichal, but he may be best known for his long acting collaboration with Spike Lee, appearing in his films Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and Summer of Sam, among others.