Oakland Public Theater presents INVENTORY: James Baldwin Abroad

Oakland Public Theater is proud to present INVENTORY: James Baldwin Abroad, August 1-4 at Potrero Stage (San Francisco) and August 22-September 1 at BAM House (Oakland), a new theatrical work examining James Baldwin’s personal life and his work. From the churches of Harlem, through expatriation in Europe, into the civil unrest burgeoning out of the South to blossom across America, to his evolving public identity as a gay man, these events are as rich in drama as they are significant to the maturation of this important African-American artist and activist.

Although he has been gone almost 40 years, on August 2nd, 2024 James Baldwin would have turned one hundred. His revolutionary mind lives on in Baldwin’s writings and the movements towards equality which his seminal ideas both chronicled & continue to inspire. Oakland Public Theater (OPT) launches this project, beginning with a series of public readings, then developing them into a full theatrical production in 2024, to give a fuller sense of the man many called Jimmy. Approximate running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes. Tickets can be reserved here.

James Baldwin (born August 2, 1924, New York, New York, U.S.—died December 1, 1987, Saint-Paul de Vence, France) was an essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of race in America made him one of the most important voices of the 20th century. A writer of exceptionally clear and psychologically penetrating prose, Baldwin addressed race relations with deft complexity and incisive anger. He was also one of the first Black writers to include queer themes in fiction, notably in Giovanni’s Room (1956), writing with a frankness that was highly controversial at the time. His works include the novels Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) and Another Country (1962), the plays The Amen Corner (1954) and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964), and the essay collections Nobody Knows My Name (1961) and The Fire Next Time (1963) [Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin]

This project is supported by CA$H Theatre, a grants program of Theatre Bay Area. We are honored to be co-sponsored by the Lower Bottom Playaz and the BAMBD-CDC. Oakland Public Theater is a member of the PlayGround Innovator Incubator cohort and under their fiscal sponsorship.