Smith, Anna Deavere

Smith, Anna Deavere
▪ 2009

born Sept. 18, 1950, Baltimore, Md.

 Anna Deavere Smith, who rose to prominence in the early 1990s while performing highly acclaimed one-woman shows dealing with race and class in the late 20th-century United States, returned in 2008 to the form that made her famous. In Let Me Down Easy, Smith broadened her perspective to explore the resiliency and vulnerability of the human body; she portrayed more than 20 characters who spoke out about current events such as genocide in Rwanda, steroid use among athletes, AIDS in Africa, and the U.S. health care system; the play opened in January in New Haven, Conn. Although she could be categorized as a playwright, an actress, an author, a journalist, or an educator, Smith appeared to have the main ambition of serving as a kind of mirror, reflecting American society back on itself.

      Smith was raised in a racially segregated middle-class section of Baltimore. She was a shy child who nonetheless developed a talent for mimicry. She studied linguistics at Beaver College (now Arcadia University) near Philadelphia, earning a B.A. (1971) before moving to San Francisco to study acting at the American Conservatory Theatre, where she earned an M.F.A. degree (1977). The following year she took a position teaching drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. While there, Smith explored methods for actors to create characters by studying real people engaged in actual conversations. Inspired by her research, she launched her own ongoing project, On the Road: A Search for American Character.

      In addition to landing a role on the television soap opera All My Children, Smith wrote and performed several well-received plays as part of the On the Road project, but her breakthrough work was Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities (1992), which told the story of the racial tension that rocked the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn following an incident in 1991 in which the car of a Hasidic Jew went out of control and hit and killed a black child. Smith crafted the play from her own in-depth interviews, and she performed all 29 roles, moving seamlessly from one character to the next. The show received high critical praise and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993 her next offering, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, was a well-executed and well-received exploration of the violence that erupted after the acquittal of four white police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King, a black man.

      As an actress Smith appeared on television shows such as The West Wing and Presidio Med and had roles in the films The American President, The Human Stain, and Dave. She also authored two books: Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics (2000) and Letters to a Young Artist (2006). She was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship (a “genius grant”) in 1996. After 10 years as a professor of the arts, Smith left her tenured position at Stanford in 2000 and later joined the faculty at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Anthony G. Craine

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Anna Deavere Smith — Anna Deaver Smith Données clés Naissance 18 septembre 1950 ( …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Anna Deavere Smith — Infobox actor name = Anna Deavere Smith imagesize = 150px caption = Smith delivered a keynote address to the New Dimensions of Citizenship conference at Fordham Law School in September 2006 birthdate = birth date and age|1950|09|18 birthplace =… …   Wikipedia

  • Anna Smith — may refer to:* Anna Nicole Smith (1967 ndash;2007), model and actress * Anna Deavere Smith (born 1950), actress and academic * Anna Smith (tennis) (born 1988), British tennis player …   Wikipedia

  • List of The West Wing cast members — Actors in The West Wing . A * Mason Adams * Seth Adkins * Jerry Adler * Alan Alda * Landry Allbright * John Amos * John Aniston * Adam Arkin * Aaron Ashmore * Frank Ashmore * Rene Auberjonois B * Dylan Baker * Bob Balaban * Eric Balfour * Jim… …   Wikipedia

  • Requiem (The West Wing) — Infobox Television episode Title = Requiem Series = The West Wing Caption = Leo s casket Season = 7 Episode = 150 Airdate = April 162006 Production = 2T6218 Writer = Eli Attie Debora Cahn John Wells Director = Steve Shill Guests = Mary Louise… …   Wikipedia

  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show — The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors. It honors an individual presenting a solo performance in a Broadway, off Broadway, off off… …   Wikipedia

  • Nancy McNally — Infobox character | name = Nancy McNally series = The West Wing caption = Anna Deavere Smith as Nancy McNally portrayer = Anna Deavere Smith creator = Aaron Sorkin first = In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I last = Transition cause = gender =… …   Wikipedia

  • Nurse Jackie — Título Nurse Jackie Género Comedia de humor negro Creado por Evan Dunsky, Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem Reparto Edie Falco Eve Best Peter Facinelli Merritt Wever Haaz Sleiman Paul Schulze Dominic Fumusa Anna Deave …   Wikipedia Español

  • Nurse Jackie — intertitle Genre Medical drama Comedy drama Created by Liz Brixius Evan Dunsky …   Wikipedia

  • Eileen Atkins — Born Eileen June Atkins 16 June 1934 (1934 06 16) (age 77) London, England Spouse Julian Glover (1957 1966) Bill Shepherd (1978 present) Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE (born 16 June 1934) is an English actress and occasional screen …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”