Art has always been his thing. Danez Smith, a 21-year-old Minnesota native, grew up writing, acting and performing his own spoken word poetry.

But this weekend, at the Fifth Annual Line Breaks Festival, Smith will take his passion to a new level, premiering his first full-length one person show, entitled “For Those Who Pray in Closets.” The production casts a scrutinizing glance at the intersection of spirituality and sexuality, examining whether two seemingly incompatible ways of life can coexist within one person.

“Closets” addresses pretty deep subject matter, as Smith acknowledges. He’s made a serious effort to ensure that the material is approachable for his diverse audience but feels an understandable personal connection to the content of his show – one that cannot be brushed to the side.

The First Wave Spoken Word Learning Community, of which Smith has been an active and influential member since 2007, has given him the opportunity to hone his creativity over the years. A departure from the type of spoken word poetry performance to which he is accustomed, Smith has finally created a one-man show in his fourth year at the University of Wisconsin.

“I thought about doing a show the first year [of the festival],” said Smith, in a recent interview with The Badger Herald. “But I didn’t know what to write. For me, it was less about doing a show and more about waiting until I had a message.”

That message began to develop loud and clear for Smith during a study abroad stint in Panama during the fall of 2009.

“It was interesting being in this extremely spiritual place,” Smith said, “with a bunch of hip hop kids who were saying kind of homophobic things. So I put myself back in the closet. I thought, ‘I would rather have friends here than make a political statement.'”

This culmination of experiences led to the development of “For Those Who Pray in Closets,” a play whose title speaks to a seldom addressed segment of the population.

“You see a lot of shows that are either from a Christian perspective critiquing sexuality, or from a queer perspective critiquing religion,” Smith said. “That’s what brings new light to this show. It’s from both perspectives.”

The project dissects and examines its theme through the lens of seven different characters, each one uniquely portrayed by the versatile Smith. Always evolving and developing, the beauty of the one-man show lies in the fact that the performer is completely responsible for its outcome, a liberty taken by Smith with every new performance of “Closets” since its international debut at Contact Theater in Manchester, UK.

“It’s totally new every time,” Smith said. “The point is to get the same story across, so as long as I start at the same place, end at the same place and hit certain points in the middle, it works.”

This flexibility is what helps his production feel so comfortable and organic. Smith is sincere about his message, and although he has been enormously inspired by fellow First Wave poets and by his experiences abroad, this show is absolutely pure and personal.

The Fifth Annual Line Breaks Festival is a growing force in the multicultural arts world, showcasing aspiring performers and even a few prestigious UW alumni. These include the notorious Rafael Casal, a talented writer and artist – and mastermind behind the “On Wisconsin (Remix).” Smith sees the Line Breaks Festival as a rethinking of theater and, art and is proud to be kicking off the festival with his production.

Uncharacteristically, for those who are well-acquainted with Smith and his work, there is no spoken word poetry in “For Those Who Pray in Closets,” which instead features roughly an hour and 15 minutes of prose.

“It would just be mean to make people sit through that much poetry,” Smith said, with a smile.