Ronald Smokey Stevens, critically acclaimed artist and recipient of the 50th Annual Vivian Robinson Audelco Recognition Award for Best Solo Performance in "I Just Want To Tell Somebody," the 49th Annual Vivian Robinson Audelco Retrospective Award for Theater Excellence, recipient of the NAACP 11th Annual Theater Arts Award, and a native of Washington DC, began his professional training and career at the DC Black Repertory Co where he studied and performed in repertory for six years.
After his studies he performed in Showdown Times on the National Black Touring Circuit. In New York he appeared on Broadway in Bubbling Brown Sugar, Inacent Black, Dreamgirls, the touring companies of One Mo Time, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and his own Broadway production Rollin on the T.O.B.A., a tribute to the last days of Black Vaudeville. Stevens co-conceived, wrote, directed, choreographed, and starred in this production.
He also co-conceived the vaudeville musical, Shoot Me While I’m Happy, which ran at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. While in New York he also produced The Sho’nuff Variety Revue at the Village Gate, The Rising Stars Caberet, as well as shows for the Children’s Theater of Harlem.
Stevens’ film credits include The Wiz, as one of The Crows performing with Michael Jackson, The Cotton Club, and Times Square.
He has performed with many greats including legendary tap master Charles Honi Coles, Lucille Ball, Cab Calloway, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee to name a few.
He is the author of his first published book entitled, I Just Want To Tell Somebody, the Autobiography of Ronald Smokey Stevens.
He has turned his book into a one-man stage production of the same title, which was performed at The Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington DC in February of 2011, and this production recently completed a critically acclaimed five week run Off Broadway in January and February 2022 at Theater For The New City in New York.
Stevens is a graduate of The Community Film Workshop of Chicago, where he produced two 16mm short films. He also co-produced an exposé called The ARC: A Beacon of Light in S.E. DC for DCTV.
He is the recipient of the 2011 Heritage Project Grant sponsored by the DC Humanities Council where he produced wrote, and directed his first documentary entitled Preserving LeDroit Park, a Historic Community in Washington, DC. He has served as researcher and producer on other documentaries including, America An Immigration Nation, Dancing Destinations: the Story of DC Hand Dance, and Black Broadway at the Village Gate.
Stevens recently published two books The First 60 Years: the History of Afro-American Musical Theater and Entertainment 1865-1930 and Behind The Glitz and The Glamour: Shobiz Stories by Smokey Stevens (available on Kindle and Amazon.com, and now the only audiobook on the subject of black Entertainment History).
Smokey Stevens is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Capital City Readers Theatre in Washington DC.