Chameleon Street
Black Cinema Series

Chameleon Street

Screening & Discussion

Monday, July 28, 2025  | 7:00pm

Little Theatre 1 (240 East Ave.)
Doors open at 6:30pm

Standard ticket prices
Tickets available online in advance, at our box office during open hours, or at the door (if tickets remain).

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival—yet criminally underseen for over three decades—Chameleon Street recounts the improbable but true story of Michigan con man Douglas Street, the titular “chameleon” who successfully impersonated his way up the socioeconomic ladder by posing as a magazine reporter, an Ivy League student, a respected surgeon, and a corporate lawyer. Elevated by a dexterous performance and daring direction from multi-hyphenate actor-writer-director Wendell B. Harris Jr., the film pins a lens on race, class and performance in American identity, which has lost none of its relevance. At once piercingly funny and aesthetically mischievous, Chameleon Street is a “lost masterpiece of Black American cinema” (BFI) long overdue to take its rightful place in the independent film canon.

Not Rated | 1 hr 34 mins | Comedy | 1990
USA | English

Directed by Wendell B. Harris Jr.

Black Cinema Series
Black Cinema Series

The Little Theatre’s Black Cinema Series, presented in partnership with the Rochester Association of Black Journalists (RABJ), screens both scripted and non-fiction films about the Black experience. With an emphasis on contemporary independent films, the series highlights Black perspectives and filmmakers, with screenings and panel discussions with community experts and filmmakers. More details about the Black Cinema Series Browse films in this series

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