Photos: Campo Santo Premieres OTTO FRANK at The Magic Theatre
The production runs now through March 27th.
By: Marissa Tomeo Mar. 13, 2022
The Magic Theatre's (Sean San José, Lead Director and Kevin Nelson, Managing Director) first Home Resident Company- Campo Santo is honored to announce a limited engagement of the Premiere Run of OTTO FRANK, a new performance piece created and performed by incomparable star of film, television, and stage Roger Guenveur Smith, with an original score and live sound by award winning musician Marc Anthony Thompson. OTTO FRANK will perform from March 12-27, 2022 on Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm and 8pm, at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123). Each show will be followed by a post-show discussion with Roger. Single tickets range from $20-$70 and are on sale now at MagicTheatre.org. Tickets are also available as part of a 2022 Season Pass (still available for a limited time).
In what can only be described as a resurrection by a singular imagination, Otto Frank is Roger Guenveur Smith's latest solo performance piece, first performed in a limited fashion in 2020 and then only a few select virtual performances through the pandemic. Plans for any run of performances for this incredible piece have been thwarted and stalled by the scheduling madness of the past two years. The power of the piece and the potential in any creation by Guenvuer Smith were enough to have the piece selected to be part of the launch of this year's Under The Radar Festival at the Public Theatre in New York City. The timing of the variant cases forced the festival to be canceled.
The misfortune for the festival has made this premiere run even more precious and eventful. This new work has effectively been readied and steeping these past years and now will live in a full run. Otto Frank begins its incantation and psychic interview with these special performances at the Magic Theatre. Otto Frank is a piece both outside and within our own moment. It is a song, a poetic reverie carved from curiosity, sadness, rage, and an abiding empathy. Smith inhabits the father of Anne Frank as he weaves through time, navigating loss, his own motivations as steward and creator of her legacy, and the terrible sense of tragedy in his time and our own.
Roger Guenveur Smith will be accompanied on stage by his long-time collaborator and musician Marc Anthony Thompson, aka leader of Chocolate Genius, who will create the score and perform sound live. The two have created nearly a dozen pieces together, mainly with Guenvuer Smith creating the text and performance, and Thompson creating original scores and live sound design.
Check out the photos from the production below!
Photo Credits: Jay Yamada
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