Anna Deavere Smith Crosses Racial Chasms on a Bridge of Words

<<< "You get the feeling that Smith's very fingerprints change as she switches characters," said Newsweek of actor Anna Deavere Smith, who will perform on campus September 20.

The posters entice: "Come see a pregnant, Panamanian, Korean, Jewish, white, truck-driving ex-gang member build bridges across race in America." How is this possible? Actor, playwright, and Stanford University arts professor Anna Deavere Smith is known for transforming herself into wildly different characters on stage, and she's coming to MHC next week.

On Friday, September 20 (7:30 pm in Chapin Auditorium), Smith will conduct what The New Yorker called "one of the most sophisticated dialogues about race in contemporary America." Her performance is the first in a series of inclusiveness programs to be held on campus.

Smith's work exploring issues of race and community in America has been acclaimed by the media, critics, and audiences across the country. Newsweek even called her "The most exciting individual in American theater." In addition to her Tony Award-nominated stage work on- and off-Broadway, Smith has been seen in the films Philadelphia and Dave and played the press secretary in The American President.

Smith says her ambition is to "take a few words here and a few words there and ultimately string together a bridge which could help us communicate a little better [across] the chasm of race." To do this, she interviews ordinary people and selects some of their comments to present, verbatim, in her performances. Through taking on the voices of others, she gives the audience insight into the lives of those who are ethnically different from themselves.