By Ralph Ellison
Performed by Tarantino Smith

A ‘LIVING LIBRARY’ PROGRAM

From its opening line, "I am an invisible man," audiences are told a story that goes beyond race. Invisible Man is a story about humanity stumbling down the path to identity. Audiences of all ages and backgrounds will connect with the story and it’s narrator, and as he questions his place in society, they will also learn to question theirs.

The Story
Invisible Man recounts the epic journey of an unnamed black narrator from his familiar but oppressive home in the South to new, dangerous freedoms in New York City. Set 1952, Invisible Man brought Americans a complex black protagonist, an educated man of broad intellectual curiosity and eloquence.

In Performance
The Invisible Man Literature to Life performance chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through the hellish levels of American intolerance and cultural blindness. Searching for a context in which to know himself, he exists in a very peculiar state. "I am an invisible man," he says in his prologue. "When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination–indeed, everything and anything except me." Invisible Man is more than just a story about race, it is also about humanity stumbling down the path to identity.

Suggested Ages: 12 and up