Award-winning Actress, Playwright to Perform at United Methodist Women Assembly
Contact:
Kelly C. Martini, communications director/information officer,
United Methodist Women's Division
Cell Phone: 610-996-2124; Office Phone: 212-870-3729
Award-winning Actress, Playwright to Perform at United Methodist Women Assembly
ANAHEIM, CALIF., April 24 -- More than 8,000 women at the United Methodist Women's Assembly will experience art with a message, as award-winning actress, playwright and author, Anna Deveare Smith, performs May 5 at 8:00 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
The United Methodist Women's Assembly, held every four years, is a gathering of women from around the world who are concerned about the critical issues facing women, children and youth. Event organizers say Ms. Smith was asked to perform at the evening session because her projects have a message paralleling the understanding and work of their one-million member organization.
By examining controversial events from multiple viewpoints, Ms. Smith's theater and film work combines journalistic techniques of interviewing her subjects with interpretation of their words through drama.
Her play, "Twilight: Los Angeles," examined the civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict and received two Tony nominations, an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics, and numerous other honors. The Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) broadcast the drama as part of the American Playhouse Series in April 2000.
The drama, "Fires in the Mirror," explored racial tensions between Blacks and Jews that culminated in the 1991 race riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It received a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize, and also was broadcast on PBS as part of the American Playhouse Series.
When granted the prestigious MacArthur Award, her work was described as "a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie." A New York Times review of her Broadway show, "Twilight Los Angeles" said, "[she is] the ultimate impressionist: she does people's souls."
Ms. Smith, who teaches drama at New York University, is working presently on a project called, "Let Me Down Easy." The drama centers on the human body, the things that make it vulnerable, and how it is affected by war, disease and other forces. She is currently in New Orleans researching Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath for the project.
The Women's Division represents United Methodist Women, an approximately one-million member organization whose purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders and advocate for justice. Members raise some $25 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and more than 100 countries around the world.
# # #
