Roger Guenveur Smith blew the top off my fucking skull when he came through Seattle a few years ago with his Rodney King solo show. Smith is an incomparably good character actor with an incredible command of language and a jazz-infused storytelling technique I haven't seen from anyone else. Our own Sean Nelson called the show "a master class in wringing glorious art from life's tragic dimension," a sentiment I agree with completely. Now Smith is coming through with Frederick Douglass Now, a solo show about the self-liberated abolitionist who is "getting recognized more and more," the president notices. Somehow, tickets for Rodney King didn't completely sell out back in 2016. Don't make that mistake again, Seattle. by Rich Smith