Award-winning actor, author, teacher to visit university

The University of South Carolina, with the South Carolina Theatre Association, will present a performance and lecture by award-winning actor, author and teacher, Anna Deavere Smith, Saturday, Nov. 11, in the School of Law auditorium.

The 6 p.m. presentation, "Glimpses of America In Change," will be followed by a question-and-answer period and a book signing.

Tickets are limited and free with a USC ID. In addition, tickets are available, at $10 each, for the public. Call 777-2551 for tickets in advance.

Smith's appearance is the keynote address for the SCTA annual convention, being held this year at the university.

Smith is the creator of an acclaimed series of one-woman plays based on her interviews with diverse voices from communities in crisis. She has won two Obie awards and received two Tony nominations for her play, "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992." She also has received a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called "genius" grant, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play, "Fires in the Mirror." She has had roles in the films, "Philadelphia," "An American President," "The Human Stain" and "Rent," and she has worked in television on "The Practice," "Presidio Med," and "The West Wing."

"I've seen her lectures before," said USC department of theatre and dance chair and artistic director Jim Hunter. "She is a one-of-kind speaker. She speaks in her own voice and – uncannily – the voices of people she's interviewed. The result is funny and moving and always leaves you with something to think about and talk about."

Smith's website describes "Glimpses of America In Change" as "an exploration of race, community and character in America. Ms. Smith has been listening to people across the country from all walks of life for the last several years, using Walt Whitman's idea ‘to absorb America' as an inspiration. …Ms. Smith slips in and out of character during the course of her presentation, recreating a diversity of emotions and points of view on controversial issues."

The presentation is sponsored by SCTA and the College of Arts and Sciences with a grant from the USC Arts Institute.

Ms. Smith is the founder and director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. She teaches at New York University and lives in New York City. In her latest book, "Letters to a Young Artist," which will be made available at the book signing, is Smith's reflections on the creative process, the artist's life and the acting profession, presented in brief letters to a fictitious teenager. The actor, Laurence Fishburne, says the book "will serve as inspiration to artists of every age."