Professional performer Calvin Levels will present his one-man play "James Baldwin - Down From the Mountaintop" on Thursday, March 29 at 7 p.m. in the Wall Auditorium. The event, part of Coastal Carolina University's African American Celebration, is free and open to the public.

Levels' play is a theatrical tribute based on the life work of famed author and activist James Baldwin. The play follows Baldwin's life as a writer and civil rights activist, including scenes from his Harlem childhood and his relationships with Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Wright, Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Malcolm X and other famous artists and activists.

Levels, who is also a Tony Award-nominated actor, has worked in theaters across the country performing this tribute to an American cultural icon.

Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem, where at 14 years old he became the pastor of a Pentecostal church. After graduating from DeWit Clinton High School, he moved to Greenwich Village and devoted himself to literature, writing novels, essays, plays and poems. His best known works include "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "Nobody Knows My Name" and "The Fire Next Time." He became increasingly outspoken in condemning discrimination against not only the African American community but also the lesbian and gay population. He died in 1987.

For additional information, call the Office of Multicultural Student Services at 349-2863.