American actress, playwright and professor Anna Deavere Smith is coming to Wharton Center on Monday, Nov. 10, as part of the World View Lecture Series, in partnership with Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters Leading Voices Series.
Tickets to see Anna Deavere Smith are available online at whartoncenter.com, at the Auto-Owners Insurance Ticket Office at Wharton Center, or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.
Deavere Smith has created a new theater form through her interview-based solo shows. Fires in the Mirror, earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination; and her piece on Let Me Down Easy was broadcast on Great Performances after a national tour. She has appeared in West Wing, Nurse Jackie and other TV shows.
Deavere Smith is the 2012 National Humanities Medal winner and Founding Director of Anna Deavere Smith Works. Her presentation coincides with MSU’s 60/50 Project, a community conversation on civil and human rights. Deavere Smith has received plenty of awards for her social and political efforts, including the Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues.
She also received the prestigious National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2012. Deavere Smith’s unique artistic perspective can be summed up in one sentence: “Do you want to be an artist so the whole world would look at you, or do you want to be an artist because you want to use your ability to attract attention, to have the world see itself through you differently?” Deavere Smith’s lecture is sure to be a thought-provoking evening to remember.