Thursday, January 17, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC -- Acclaimed playwright and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith will present “Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 5, in UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium. This performance is part of the Leadership Lecture Series sponsored by the UNCW Campus Activities and Involvement Center.

In “Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change,” Smith combines the power of words and theatrical performance to transform herself into the different voices of the many people she has interviewed during racial conflicts. In addition to theatrical work, Smith has appeared in the films Dave, Philadelphia and The American President. She has a reoccurring guest role on the TV series The West Wing.

Revolutionizing the performing arts by bringing street realities into theater, Smith uses theater to explore issues of race, community and character in America. Both of her plays, Twilight: Los Angeles and Fires in the Mirror are part of her continuing series, On the Road: A Search for American Character. The next installment of the series, House Arrest, explores the mythic role of the presidency in American society. Smith’s work combines journalistic interviewing with the art of interpreting words through performance. The New York Times called her “the ultimate expressionist; she does people’s souls.”

Winner of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship, Smith founded the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue based at Harvard University in 1998. She is a tenured professor in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University with an additional affiliation at the NYU School of Law.

Her performance is co-sponsored by the UNCW Office of Campus Diversity. Admission to the lecture is free for UNCW students, faculty and staff; $7.50 for all others. For tickets, call the Kenan Auditorium ticket office at 962-3500.

For more information, contact Shannon Hooker, campus activities, at 910/962-7600 or by e-mail at hookers@uncwil.edu. A photo of Anna Deavere Smith is available on the UNCW News and Events Web site www.uncwil.edu/news/releases/january02/smith.html.