CALARTS Center for New Performance Presents

SMOKE, LILIES and Jade

A play inspired by the life and work of Richard Bruce Nugent. His evanescent memories form the basis of Smoke, Lilies, and Jade.

Written by Carl Hancock Rux
Directed by Nataki Garrett

Set during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Smoke, Lilies, and Jade is a densely rich poetic landscape, Rux’s play is inspired by the life and work of Richard Bruce Nugent. Nugent outlived all of his famous contemporaries. His evanescent memories form the basis of Smoke, Lilies, and Jade.

Originating in New York City’s Harlem during the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement in which literature, art and music experienced extraordinary revitalization and growth. The movement attracted significant attention nationally and marked the first time that African American literature achieved critical acclaim and a broader audience. The careers of such artists as Langston Hughes, Claude Mckay, Jackie Mabley, Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington all flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. 

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