Gresham Hall Grace Episcopal Cathedral
Sunday morning Forum: Arts and Human Rights, Anna Deavere Smith and Robert
McDuffie, of Macon, Georgia, in conversation with the Very Rev Dr Jane Shaw
Baltimore's Anna Deavere Smith, actress and playwright, is said to have created a new form of theater. Her many awards include a MacArthur
fellowship, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award, two Tony nominations, two Obies
and more.
She was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play "Fires in the
Mirror" (about 1991's Crown Heights riots) and has created over 15 one-person shows based on hundreds of
interviews, most of which deal with social issues. These shows include
"Twilight: Los Angeles" (about the explosive 1992 Los Angeles race riots after a California court acquitted police officers charged, and caught on video, of savagely beating Rodney King), and "Let Me
Down Easy," focused on U.S. healthcare.
In popular culture Smith can be seen in Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," in 20 episodes of NBC's "The West Wing," "The American President," "Rachel
Getting Married," and the groundbreaking and award winning AIDS justice drama "Philadelphia," with Tom Hanks, and in other movies and television productions.
In addition to authoring books and starring in films, Smith is a professor at New York University's Performance Studies Department.
Of the Gish award, Smith said, "The Gish Prize provides credibility and recognition for artists who invented a new path for themselves and their work." The $300,000 prize was awarded Smith in 2013.
Anna Deavere Smith
serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art, The Aspen Institute and Grace
Episcopal Cathedral. She received the Dean’s Medal from Stanford Medical School and is
University Professor at NYU. Ms. Smith continues to develop On Grace, the work
she premiered at grace Cathedral in 2012.
James Patterson Blogger's Note: Lillian Gish would be so proud of Anna Deavere Smith for her intense exploration of social issues in her works, books and speeches. Thank you Miss Gish for your wisdom and vision in establishing this important prize..JPG)
Photo courtesy Grace Episcopal Cathedral.
Note: Ms Smith may not remember but I recall meeting her once at Legal Seafoods on K Street in Washington DC when the restaurant hosted a West Wing cast party there. West Wing producers also shot a scene once at Hawk 'n Dove, a Capitol Hill pub I frequented in the late 1990s when I worked at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Eisenhower Building, on First Street. Disclosure: After a brief period with Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger, (Blogger could not offer spelling corrections) I later switched political parties. I once called the Governator "the future of the Republican Party." I was wrong as the GOP has no future. BTW, Miss Gish supported both parties over the years. We have photos of her with Presidents Jimmy Carter, courtesy Carter Library, and with President Ronald Reagan.
James Patterson
Member, California Historical Society
Life Member: Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
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