Anna Deavere Smith : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Anna Deavere Smith was the Ann O’Day Maples Professor of the Arts, Department of Drama, at Stanford from 1990 to 2000. In this oral history, she discusses her childhood in 1950s segregated Baltimore. She describes her experiences in local public schools, her time at Beaver College (now Arcadia University), and her decision to come to California in the wake of the social upheaval of the late 1960s and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Smith recounts her immersion into the world of drama through American Conservatory Theater (ACT) and her several academic appointments on both coasts. Experimenting with a new form of theater that addresses experiences of inequality and discord in American society, Smith offers both a critique and praise of academia for providing her with the space, time, and resources to develop this work. Smith also discusses the tensions around going up for tenure early at Stanford while developing Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, her decision to leave Stanford for NYU, her lifetime identification as an outsider, what she expects from her audiences, and how the arts can help address the further fracturing of American society.
- Summary
- [00:00:00-31:25:25] Memories of growing up in Baltimore • Father Deaver Young Smith, Jr. • Family business Smith’s Tea and Coffee • Mother Anna Rosalind Young Smith • “Grandpops” Deaver Young Smith • Prevalence of schoolteachers in family; education as key to preparing for a post-segregation world • Family values of honesty, kindness, generosity, and respectability • Stories of racial segregation • Colorism and class distinctions within Black community • Siblings • Awful experience at Garrison Junior High before attending all-girls Western High School • Undergraduate years at Beaver College • Admiration for women like Ruth Simmons but need to create a different life • Impact of MLK assassination on Black community at Beaver College [31:26:00-58:58:00] Working in College Readiness Program at College of San Mateo • Influence of colleagues Dave Thomas and Liz Thomas • Early theater experiences; American Conservatory Theater (ACT) summer program • How to change the world through acting • MFA thesis; tenure track position at Carnegie Mellon (CMU) • Leaving CMU to experiment with theater in New York City • Walking dogs and working in airline complaint department; learning from passengers’ letters • Academic job at University of Southern California (USC); experiencing racism and mismanagement • Position at San Francisco State (SFSU) • Joining faculty in Stanford’s Department of Drama in 1990 • Developing “docudrama” form of theatre focusing on issues of identity; work gelling around “communities of discord” • Stanford faculty expectations • Bunting Fellowship at Harvard and Stanford support • Writing Fires in the Mirror during fellowship year • Memorable conversations with Stanford Dean Ewart Thomas and Drama Chair Michael Ramsaur • Acclaim for Fires in the Mirror; developing Twilight Los Angeles, 1992 • Submitting tenure papers, teaching, interviewing people for Twilight simultaneously--“one hell of a hard year” [58:59:00-1:24:51] Success of Twilight • Encouragement to stay in academia from Ruth Simmons and Richard Yarbrough• Receiving tenure and parents’ reaction • Academia as a place to explore ideas and process • Decision to leave Stanford for NYU • Launching Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue at Harvard • Praise for Stanford’s support of pursuit of excellence, unique resources • Stanford and Harvard compared • Thoughts on awards and honorary degrees • Universities as venue for her work • Thoughts on being an outsider • Thinking about her legacy • Reflections on engaging audiences to take action and the responsibilities of arts institutions • New project on girls
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | December 20, 2021 - |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Smith, Anna Deavere | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Smith, Anna Deavere | |
| Interviewer | Costello, Paul | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Drama |
|---|---|
| Subject | Actresses |
| Subject | American Conservatory Theater |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author, who is especially renowned for her groundbreaking solo theater performances about race, social justice, and equality. Currently a professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, she was the Ann O’Day Maples Professor of the Arts in the Department of Drama at Stanford University from 1990 to 2000. Smith is credited with creating “a new form of theater—a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie." Her play Twilight: Los Angeles, which examined the civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict, received two TONY nominations, an Obie, a Drama Desk Award, and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics. Fires in the Mirror, a response to 1991 events in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was a runner up for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize. Both works were broadcast on PBS as part of the American Playhouse series. Other plays include House Arrest, a multi-actor play based on hundreds of interviews with figures in 1990s Washington, DC, and Let Me Down Easy, a one-woman show that explores questions of physical health and medical care. Smith’s most recent play is Notes from the Field, an examination of the “school-to-prison-pipeline.” It was staged off-Broadway in New York City in 2016 and adapted into a film by HBO in 2018. In 1997, Smith founded the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, dedicated to supporting the development of works that deal with social issues in a manner that incorporates artists, scholars, and audiences. Funded by the Ford Foundation, IACD sponsored several intensive summer institutes in connection with the American Repertory Theater and Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. It now resides at New York University. Smith’s television credits include the role of National Security Advisor Nancy McNally on The West Wing, the role of hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus on Nurse Jackie, and episodes of the series For the People and Blackish. Film credits include The American President, Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia, Dave, Rent, and Human Stain. Smith is also the author of two books Letters to a Young Artist and Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines, which chronicles her time in Washington, DC and on the 1996 campaign trail. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. In 2015, the National Endowment for the Humanities named Smith the Jefferson Lecturer, the nation’s highest honor for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. In 2012, President Obama awarded Smith the National Humanities Medal. She is also a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, or “genius grant,” the 2013 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for achievement in the arts, the George Polk Career Award in Journalism, and the Ridenhour Courage Award. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Beaver College and Master of Fine Arts in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. |
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| Audio/Video |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/sm953jy0004 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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