Actor-playwright Roger Guenveur Smith was to perform his celebrated one-man show, A Huey P. Newton Story, for one-night-only, Feb. 2 at Princeton's McCarter Theatre. The performance was to be part of the McCarter's celebration of Black History Month.

However, according to a box office spokesperson (reached Jan. 29), the show has been cancelled due to "lack of interest."

In the play, Smith impersonates controversial Black Panthers leader Newton in all his contradictions and manic energy. The performance, which played for several weeks at Off-Broadway's Public Theatre, has won Smith an Obie Award and three NAACP Awards.

Still scheduled, also as part of Black History Month, the McCarter will present the Performance Studio of Nigeria in Things Fall Apart , Chinua Achebe's story of an African warrior whose anger and fear over the breakdown of his society is masked by a manly exterior. The performance will take place Feb. 23 at 8 PM.

For information on A Huey P. Newton Story, call (609) 683-8000. -- By Robert Simonson