Rodney Gardiner, brings his true-to-life story to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival stage with "Smote This, A Comedy About God ...and Other Serious $H*T."

There are situations within every culture, every race, that most of us can identify with: The pain of losing a father, the struggle to establish our identity and, for some, the desire to connect with something greater than ourselves.

There are really funny moments too — like getting on mom’s wrong side in church as a kid and trying to avoid those uncomfortable arm pinches you just knew were coming, or dealing with that hysterical aunt who shows up at a parent’s funeral.

Years ago, in 1987 to be exact, there was a gem of a comedy show on CBS called “Frank’s Place,” which ran for only 22 episodes. It was unlike the Black family sitcoms of the day, which focused on the trials and triumphs of Black families trying to navigate a often unwelcoming white world.

Rather, it was a serial comedy-drama about a Black college professor experiencing the Black culture in New Orleans — specifically, Creole. A culture he was unfamiliar with and totally unprepared for. And yet the familiar themes were still there — a man stepping into his father’s shoes, trying to make sense of his heritage. It was touching, it found the humor in eccentric characters and life situations. It focused on stories with universal themes.

More importantly, it felt real.

“Smote This, A Comedy About God …and Other Serious $H*T,” now in the Thomas Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, possesses all the qualities of that landmark series. It’s the story of a man sharing his Black experience, growing up in the ‘hood in southern Florida, living in poverty and seemingly waiting forever to shake off his resident alien status.

It’s a story born far away from the predominantly white tourist town of Ashland, but close enough to the brand of prejudice layered between all experiences for Blacks in the South.

Rodney Gardiner, a multi-talented writer and actor, brings his true-to-life story home to all of us. It is identifiable, funny, and real — because Rodney Gardiner is identifiable, funny, and real.

In one short hour, Gardiner takes us on a tour through a childhood fraught with confusion — frustration at not being able to help his terminally ill father, the challenges in his neighborhood, an encounter with Jesus playing bartender at a college party. He shows us his wonder at having earned a college scholarship, and his ruefully funny attempts to get through Hanukkah with his Jewish wife and children.

Gardiner also brings us the hysterical lamentations of his aunt at his father’s memorial.

“That’s my auntie informing me my daddy’s dead, at my father’s funeral!” he exclaims.

And it gets funnier from there, then contemplative: “Ain’t it funny that we get mad at people for dying?” he asks.

Yes. There’s a whole lot to think about, feel and observe here. He knows many of us may never fully appreciate or understand his personal history, but he’s willing to take a chance on us anyway.

Gardiner talks about his father’s last days and the lily white, blonde Jesus “watching his father die” from a picture frame near his bed. He tells us about his family’s journey from Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean for a better life in Florida.

“I was raised by a strong, Black Caribbean woman” he says, who worked hard to keep her family together and her husband alive.

On this theatrical turntable of reenactments, Gardiner reminds us of the 1999 Elián Gonzalez story — a Cuban boy who became ensnared in an international custody battle after his mother drowned and he was found in an inner tube floating off Fort Lauderdale. Gardiner reminds us, “If Elián had been Black, he wouldn’t have been on the cover of Time (magazine),” or anywhere else for that matter.

The set features some oriental rugs strewn about the staging area, a mic, a stool and some tropical plants. Really, it’s just us and Gardiner. Director Raz Golden has him taking the spotlight, slipping into one more character, at the right moment, in just the right place. There is a creative team illuminating Gardiner’s characters, with lighting by Valerie Pope and acoustically even sound by sound designer Joshua Horvath.

Gardiner brings us back around to Jesus, and why this holy man figured so prominently in African-American history and in particular, his father’s life. He talks about the cruelty of slavery and how Black people could identify with Jesus’ story. That Jesus’ image may have been blonde, blue-eyed and white, but that “we needed a God,” Gardiner says, and this was the one who ultimately got so many through — maybe even Rodney Gardiner.

Go see him. He has a life-affirming story to tell that we all can relate to.

Performances of “Smote This, A Comedy About God …and Other Serious $H*T” will be given in the Thomas Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 15 S. Pioneer St., Ashland, through May 12. Tickets start at $35. Showtimes, ticket prices and information available at osfashland.org or at 800-219-8161. Group discounts available.