Distinguished Speaker Series: Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith is an actor, a teacher, a playwright and the creator of an acclaimed series of one-woman plays based on her interviews with diverse voices from communities in crisis. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations, a Drama Desk Award, the USA Susan V. Berresford Award from United States Artists, and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. She has been said to have created a new form of theater; her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. Television and movie credits include Nurse Jackie, The West Wing, The American President, Philadelphia and others. Smith is the founding director of Anna Deavere Smith Works, a nonprofit that convenes socially committed artists whose work addresses the world's most pressing problems and brings them into dialogue with scholars, scientists, activists, students and politicians. She is also the founder of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University. Honorary degrees include those from Juilliard, Northwestern and a Radcliffe Medal. She is a professor at New York University. This is free, ticketed event. Limit two tickets per person.

Tickets are available on January 23 for those with 7-C IDs (students, faculty, staff) and February 6 for the general public at the Bridges Auditorium box office from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday.