Black Boy: A One Man Play starring Tarantino Smith

Sat, Mar 8 2025
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Kings Bay, Meeting Room

Black History Month book discussion performance teen time


Kings Bay Library Presents Literature to Life stage presentation of

Black Boy by Richard Wright
Performed by Tarantino Smith
Adapted and Directed by Wynn Handman
Based on the novel Black Boy by Richard Wright, © 1945

 

When: Saturday, March 8, 2025, 2 pm

ages: Teen and Adults

Where: Kings Bay Library, Community Room


ACTOR BIO

Tarantino Smith, Actor: Hailing from North Carolina, Tarantino moved to New York City on a full scholarship to study acting, singing, dancing, and vocal production & speech at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy - a private conservatory in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He finished conservatory early by landing the lead of Sundiata in a national tour of The Lion King of Mali. While on tour, his passion for classical theatre continued to grow, and upon returning to NYC he started training with The Pearl Theatre Company where he studied classics such as Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, and Shakespeare. To further his experience, he also worked with legendary acting teacher Wynn Handman on a historic drama piece (based on letters written, or rather orated, by ex-slaves) and on two one-man shows: Ralph Ellisons' Invisible Man and Richard Wrights' memoir Black Boy - all adapted verbatim from the novels. In Black Boy, Tarantino tells the story of a black boy growing up in the Jim Crow South, transitioning through a "tour de force" of 20 different characters. Though his passion for his craft was developed and continues to develop on the stage, he has also appeared in a few independent films such as The Life (2002), Battle, New York Day 2 (2011), Robot Revolution (2015), and Carbon Copy (2017). 

 

QUOTE

“If this country can't find its way down a Human path, if it can't inform conduct with a deep sense of life...then all of us, Black as well as White, are heading down the same drain.” 

 

LINK TO YOUTUBE CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pImSwCm31Eo

LINK TO LTL TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UnCJIkPPNo

For booking inquiries about this or any other of Literature to Life’s arts and literacy programs, please contact Lisa Beth Vettoso at Literature to Life: lisa.v@literaturetolife.orgVisit us online at www.literaturetolife.org or @lit2life


ABOUT LITERATURE TO LIFE (LTL)

LITERATURE TO LIFE (LTL) is a performance-based literacy program that presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of American literary classics. LTL’s mission is to perform great books that inspire young people to read and become authors of their own lives. LTL was founded more than three decades ago as the educational program of the American Place Theatre. Now an independent organization, this mighty collective of artists and educators brings the voices of diverse authors to thousands of students and audiences nationwide, giving them the tools to become the empowered “voices worth hearing” of our future.

 

Websitewww.literaturetolife.org

Social: @lit2life (Instagram and Facebook)

This program is generously supported by a grant from Assembly Member Helene Weinstein.

Tarantino Smith in character, sitting at a desk pointing to the audience
3650 Nostrand Ave. (near Ave. W)
Brooklyn, NY 11229 Get Directions
Add to My Calendar 03/08/2025 02:00 pm 03/08/2025 03:30 pm America/New_York Black Boy: A One Man Play starring Tarantino Smith <h5><img src="https://static.bklynlibrary.org/prod/public/inline-images/Tarantino%20Smith%20Headshot_0.JPG" data-align="left" data-entity-uuid="4d47e158-8dad-4436-9653-c56fd345c106" data-entity-type="file" alt="" width="325" height="260">Kings Bay Library Presents Literature to Life stage presentation of</h5><p><strong>Black Boy by Richard Wright</strong><br><strong>Performed by Tarantino Smith</strong><br><strong>Adapted and Directed by Wynn Handman</strong><br><strong>Based on the novel Black Boy by Richard Wright, © 1945</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>When: Saturday, March 8, 2025, 2 pm</p><p>ages: Teen and Adults</p><p>Where: Kings Bay Library, Community Room</p><hr><p><meta charset="utf-8"></p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>ACTOR BIO</strong></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#222222;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;font-style… Brooklyn Public Library - Kings Bay, Meeting Room MM/DD/YYYY 60