October marks the 40th anniversary of the Black Panther Party. Commemorating this historical event, Act One presents LATW’s "A Huey P. Newton Story." On October of 1966, in Oakland California, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The Panthers practiced militant self- defense of minority communities against the U.S. government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs. The party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation.
"A Huey P. Newton Story" is written, directed and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith. Original sound design by Marc Anthony Thompson.
Winner of two Obie Awards, the Helen Hayes Award, and three
N.A.A.C.P. Awards, this solo portrait traces the mythic rise and fall of
the Black Panther Party leader based on his own brilliant, incendiary
words. Roger Guenveur Smith navigates Newton’s cinematic stream of
consciousness from his Louisiana childhood to his untimely death on the
streets of Oakland, California in 1989.