Juan and John Plays The Kirk Douglas Theater

One of the most infamous incidents in baseball is the springboard for a powerful discussion of retribution and forgiveness in "Juan and John," the new work created and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith. Previews for the DouglasPlus event are May 17 and 18, with opening on May 19 and performances continuing through May 29, 2011, at the CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre.

In "Juan and John," Smith recalls an event he witnessed on TV as a youth - the day in August 1965 that Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants repeatedly struck Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro in the head with his bat and the bench-clearing brawl that ensued. Marichal and Roseboro eventually reconciled their differences and Smith, in the telling of their story, poignantly draws upon the violent history of the 1960s and also of more personal memories of his parents and his childhood.

Patricia McGregor is the associate director for "Juan and John"; costume design is by Candice Cain, lighting by Justin Townsend, and sound and video are by Marc Anthony Thompson, who worked with Smith on the Obie Award-winning "A Huey P. Newton Story."

"Juan and John" had its world premiere in December 2009 at The Public Theater in New York.

Smith's "The Watts Towers Project" was presented at the Douglas in 2006 as part of "Solomania!"

Tickets for "Juan and John" are $25, and are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre or two hours prior to performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office.

Funding for DouglasPlus is provided by The James Irvine Foundation's Artistic Innovation Fund and the Leading for the Future Initiative, a program of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.