Paul Robeson – a play examining the life of the famous scholar, athlete, entertainer and activist who graduated from Rutgers 100 years ago – is be the first production of the upcoming season of the Crossroads Theatre Company as well as Crossroads’ first play in the new New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC).

The play by Phillip Hayes Dean will run through Sept. 15 at the Arthur Laurents Theatre in NBPAC. Veteran actor Nathaniel Stampley Jr., known for his role as Mufasa in Broadway’s The Lion King as well as roles in The Color Purple, Cats and Porgy and Bess plays the leading role.

“With the centennial celebration of Robeson’s graduation from Rutgers, opening with this performance in its new home felt very fitting,” said Marshall Jones, head of the undergraduate theatre program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers-New Brunswick and creative director for the Crossroads Theatre Company. “If we didn’t have Robeson, we wouldn’t have Martin Luther King Jr. or Barack Obama. Robeson took a stance for what he believed in even though it went against the grain, and his work towards civil rights will be highlighted during this performance.”