Growing up in a Black, leftist family in the ‘60s life could be both complex and simple - on the one hand there’s parents explaining the effects of economic imperialism on post-colonial Africa to a five year old, but on the other hand we all looked real cool in berets. Our parents took us to rallies that became riots, peace marches that became battles, but through it all we were sure of one thing - that the only way for the American Dream to come true was through revolution, and Huey P. Newton was the god of the Revolution. Handsome, articulate Huey, Messiah of the Left, was going defeat the imperialists with one hand and create the socialist utopia with the other.

And then, one day someone told me I looked like him- like Huey. I can’t say what it meant to me. Okay, imagine it’s right after the American Revolution - only we’re all black and we lost - and someone says “Anyone ever tell you - you look like George Washington?” Wouldn’t that feel great? And each person who told me I looked like Huey told me a story about him, how he changed their life, about his bravery, his inspiration his... cruelty? Wait a minute... rape? Uh, yeah. Good and bad stories, worship and warts, I heard all of it. And I look like this guy?

So what do you do when you find out that your hero, the icon of the Left, is just a human, with all the faults and more, like any other person? Does it invalidate the Movement? Does it mean that everything your parents taught you was wrong? Was the country that chased you through the streets and killed all of your heroes right all along? Or can you listen to the message, and let the messenger be human?

So this show is a true comic drama of the search for an answer. A one person, multi-character history of my life, the Sixties, and the stories all these people were compelled to tell me.

Because I look like Huey.

The original idea for this show came after yet another person told me I looked like Huey Newton, while I was coincidentally playing Huey at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco. This play is the result of four years of research into the history of the Black Panther Party, interviews with people that told me I look like Huey.

Did Anyone Ever Tell You...? was developed at the Z Space Studio with the Afro Solo Theatre, in San Francisco, directed by Velina Brown. It opened at the New York International Fringe Theatre Festival August, 1999, before moving to the Vancouver Festival of Fringe Theatre. It’s world theatrical premiere was at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, March, 2000.

Did Anyone Ever Tell You...? was awarded the San Francisco Bay Guardian Upstage/Downstage Award for Best Solo Flight 2000, and received a best Solo Performance nomination from the Bay Area Critics Circle.

For booking information contact Michael Sullivan at (415) 928-0592, or e-mail at michael@velandme.com