Anna Deavere Smith

Actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith. She’s best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” about the Rodney King verdict, and “Fires in the Mirror” about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show “House Arrest” took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deveare Smith has also written a new memoir, “Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines” (Random House).

A broadcast of the debate between playwright August Wilson and critic Robert Brustein over multiculturalism and the theater. The discussion is moderated by actress, playwright, and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith. Wilson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the play "Fences," says the modern theater system jeopardizes the values of black actors because it is dominated by white society. Brustein, the American Repertory Theater's artistic director and the theater critic of "The New Republic," claims Wilson's ideas encourage black separatism.

Actress and Stanford Theater Professor, Anna Deavere Smith. She performs solo, multi-casted pieces, the scripts of which are transcripts of interviews with real participants of events. "Fires in the Mirrors" (aired on PBS) gave voice to the many facets of the Crown Heights riots.