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ANNA DEAVERE SMITH (1950 - ) |
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Nationality: African-American Email: n/a Website: n/a |
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Literary Agent: The Gersh Agency, NY |
Anna Deavere Smith is an actor, teacher, playwright and creator of unique one-woman plays based on interviews. Anna Deavere Smith has won two Obie Awards, two Tony nominations for TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, and a MacArthur Fellowship. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play FIRES IN THE MIRROR, Ms. Smith is founder and director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University. As an actress she has appeared in many films and on the television series West Wing. Her new book, Letters to the Artist, has recently been published by Anchor Books.
Plays by Anna Deavere Smith
Aye, Aye, I'm Integrated | ||
| 1st Produced: | 1984 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47876 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Moon Marked and Touched By the Sun", Hern, London, | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #32556 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Drama, full length | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | originally written to be performed by one, but flexible casting now available | |||||
Notes: | Monologues Anna Deavere Smith: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Identities | |||||
Synopsis: | In 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, an Hasidic man's car jumped a curb, killing Gavin Cato, a seven-year-old black child. Later, in what appears to have been an act of retaliation on the part of a faction of the black community, Yankel Rosenbaum, an Hasidic rabbinical student, was stabbed and killed. The ensuing riots that wracked Crown Heights' previous atmosphere of tolerance for its divergent cultures made national headlines and pointed to the growing friction in racial and cultural relations across America. Drawing verbatim from a series of over fifty interviews with Crown Heights' residents, politicians, activists, religious leaders, gangs, street dwellers, victims and perpetrators alike, Anna Deavere Smith has created a theatrical event distilling the lives and voices of twenty-six of the incident's survivors into a visionary amalgam, the import of which touches upon every American regardless of race, color or beliefs. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
From The Inside Looking In | ||
| 1st Produced: | Eureka | 1990 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47878 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Hafsat Abiola (Nigeria) | ||
| 1st Produced: | 2008 | |||||
Company: | Vital Voices Global Partnership | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #89388 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | part of Journeys is a series of stirring monologues from courageous women around the world engaged in the dangerous struggle for human rights. Each of these remarkable and heroic leaders tells an inspiring story of commitment. | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
House Arrest: A Search for American Character In and Around the White House, Past and Present | ||
| 1st Produced: | Arena Stage, Washington, DC | 1997 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Dramatists Play Service, NY, | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #32557 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Drama, full length | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | or flexible casting | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | a fascinating and compelling look at nothing less than the civil rights movement, the issues of slavery and racism, and the relationship between the press and the presidency over the course of American history. It begins by focusing on Jefferson and his fine words versus the likelihood that he had a long-standing affair with one of his slaves. From there HOUSE ARREST changes gears and moves forward to Franklin Roosevelt's presidency and examines how his affairs and disabilities were considered untouchable by the press. Smith interviewed many of the major players in American politics in the second half of the twentieth century and demonstrates the way politics has changed since Roosevelt's administration. The play then jumps back to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and compares that event and the Kennedy assassination. The range of voices and opinions that appear in the play make for vivid and interesting theatre. HOUSE ARREST is a triumph of Smith's writing skills. In the course of over two hours, Smith w | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Hymn | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | 1993 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #108157 | |||
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Genre: | Piece | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | choreographed by Judith Jamison with libretto written by Anna Deavere Smith | |||||
Synopsis: | celebrating Alvin Ailey | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Let Me Down Easy | ||
| 1st Produced: | 15 Sep 2009 | |||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #103548 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Channeling a dramatic range of interview subjects, from artists and athletes to doctors and those they treat, Let Me Down Easy is a virtuosic and moving exploration of the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit, featuring first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas Governor Ann Richards. With her trademark journalistic precision, Anna Deavere Smith, one of the most acclaimed and provocative theater artists of our time, explores the world of healthcare from both the patient and practitioner perspective in this timely and absorbing new play | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
On Black Identity and Black Theatre | ||
| 1st Produced: | Crossroads | 1990 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47877 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
On The Road | ||
| 1st Produced: | Berkley Rep | 1982 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47875 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Piano | ||
| 1st Produced: | Institute on Arts and Civic Dialogue | 2000 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47879 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Seven | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Dramatists Play Service, NY (2009) | ISBN/ASIN: | 978-0-8222-2351-1 | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #105490 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Documentary | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 7 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | written by Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith and Susan Yankowitz | |||||
Synopsis: | A collaboration of seven award-winning women playwrights, SEVEN is based on personal interviews with seven women leaders of the Vital Voices Global Partnership network who have triumphed over huge obstacles to create major changes in human rights in their home countries. In the seven interwoven stories we see the commonality of challenge and of bravery, and in the individual monologues that follow, we experience each fascinating whole true story. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Dramatists Play Service, NY, | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #47874 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Drama, full length | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | or flexible casting | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Acclaimed as "an American masterpiece" (Newsweek), TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 is a stunning new work of "documentary theatre" in which Anna Deavere Smith uses the verbatim words of people who experienced the Los Angeles riots to expose and explore the devastating human impact of that event. From nine months of interviews with more than two hundred people, Smith has chosen the voices that best reflect the diversity and tension of a city in turmoil: a disabled Korean man, a white male Hollywood talent agent, a Panamanian immigrant mother, a teenage black gang member, a macho Mexican-American artist, Rodney King's aunt, beaten truck driver Reginald Denny, former Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates and other witnesses, participants and victims. A work that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class, TWILIGHT ruthlessly probes the language and the lives of its subjects, offering stark insight into the complex and pressing social, economic and political issues that fueled the flames in the wake of the Rodney King verdict. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||

