Several years ago, Chris Webb was walking through the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Surrounded by relics from Black history and images of trailblazers within civil rights, arts, culture and sports, he began feeling like he didn’t measure up to the level of greatness he was perceiving around him.

“I just said to myself like, ‘Man, I must really be the end of Black excellence. Like whatever these people have, I just don’t possess it,” Webb said. “Like, I’m the last of the bloodline that thought they might have been able to continue whatever this story is.”

That moment inspired Webb’s solo show, “The End of Black Excellence,” on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre through Nov. 8.

The story centers around one statement: “For a Black man to be heard by America, he has to put on a show.”

“That show could be an amazing display of intellect, artistic prowess, athleticism, all of these different things or it could be the bad side, you know, it could be the in and out of court rooms. But either way, to get America’s attention, a show needs to be held,” Webb said.

That theme, he said, gave him license to make the show as outrageous and maximalist as possible. It was also an opportunity for Webb to combine his many talents as a writer, filmmaker and actor.

“There’s music. There’s poetry. There’s wild, wild storytelling. There’s video. There’s something for everybody,” Webb said. “And I think that the piece … is resonant to whoever has felt the weight of pressure to excel, you know, and that’s so many of us.”

Stepping onto the stage

His love for theater dates back to 6th grade.

Webb recalled transitioning from elementary school to Collinwood Middle School and struggling to find his place. He especially disliked math class, his last period of the day. When he heard an announcement about auditions for the school play, which would get him a pass to miss last period, he seized the opportunity and ended up scoring a part.

“As I go to the first rehearsal, I look around and it feels as if I found my people,” Webb said. “They were expressive. They weren’t afraid to be themselves. When the current is pulling young Black children in one direction, I feel like things like the arts allow kids to swim upstream and not only give them the permission but also give them the wings and the encouragement to do so. And I didn’t know that that’s what I was looking for.”

The play, “Once on This Island,” was part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s All-City Arts program. By the time the play premiered, he knew everyone else’s lines and the music by heart.

“When the violins would come in, it was such a magical experience that, like, I soaked that up like I probably should have been soaking math up. But there was something transformative about it,” he said. “And I knew that I wanted to be on somebody’s stage from that point forward.”

Back where it all began

Following that first theater experience, Webb immersed himself in any kind of arts-related student programming he could find around Cleveland.

“Whenever there was something that said ‘arts camp,’ ‘theater camp,’ ‘poetry camp,’ anything like that, I made my way down there,” he said. “I just loved the form of expression … getting on the stage or writing something that speaks about your community and the things that you’re going through. I love what that provided for myself, and I love the effect it had on others.”

When he was 14 years old, Webb participated in the Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP), a summer jobs-based arts program for teens at Cleveland Public Theatre.

“Cleveland Public Theatre’s mission is to nurture compassion and to raise consciousness, and we do that with groundbreaking performance and life-changing education programs,” said Raymond Bobgan, CPT’s executive artistic director.

Bobgan, who founded STEP in 1994, recalled the summer he first met Webb.

“From the beginning – you know, he still has that beautiful sparkle in his eyes – we could see very quickly, we’re like, ‘This is a really, really special person, a special performer,” Bobgan said.

Bobgan saw a preview of “The End of Black Excellence” when Webb performed an excerpt during CPT’s SoftLaunch, a weekend-long festival last January where artists presented ideas for performances that fall outside the realm of traditional theater. Webb’s show was a favorite among the audience.

“As producers, we have to be careful about using, you know, ‘best’ or ‘the greatest.’ This is one of the best solo performances I have ever produced in my career. And it’s a long career,” Bobgan said. “There’s a lot of solo shows. This is special. Cleveland is lucky to have this performance here.”