Chukwudi Iwuji will offer James Baldwin at 100, a reading of selections from the acclaimed author and activist, December 11 at McNally Jackson Seaport. The late Baldwin, who was born in 1924, would have been 100 this year.
“While riding the subway one afternoon about 10 years ago, an elderly bohemian woman smiled pleasantly, pointed at me, and said—‘James Baldwin,’" Iwuji said in a statement. “This encounter proved to be the first of many similar encounters from New York to San Francisco to London to Mozambique. One memorable encounter was my first day on set filming The Underground Railroad. Barry Jenkins stopped rehearsals and said: ‘I’m sorry, but has anyone ever told you that you need to play James Baldwin?’...With searing wit, tailored charm, elegant solitude, searching intellect, romantic mayhem, his flawed but ultimately indomitable spirit will always make reading his work—and reading it aloud— so profound.”
Iwuji has led numerous Shakespeare plays at The Public Theater, including Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, and Hamlet. On screen, he starred in Guardians of the Galaxy, and also appeared in Peacemaker, The Underground Railroad, and Doctor Who. According to press notes, Iwuji has been immersed in Baldwin's work as part of a forthcoming project.
Iwuji will be joined in conversation by Baldwin scholar and Harvard professor Jesse McCarthy. The event is part of a collaboration between the Authors Guild Foundation and McNally Jackson.
Tickets are free. Click here to register.
