Anna Deavere Smith Coming to Philadelphia Theatre Company, 5/11

Actress, playwright, and social commentator Anna Deavere Smith concludes Philadelphia Theatre Company's new Theater Masters series on Monday, May 11 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Launched as part of PTC's celebration of its 40th Anniversary season, Theatre Masters offers an array of Monday night on-stage interviews with major theatre artists with whom PTC has worked, each sharing their personal journey of transformation and creative growth over time and how it has impacted both their art and their lives. The series has welcomed Bill Irwin and Billy Porter to sold-out houses of enthusiastic audiences.

Tickets are available at philatheatreco.org or by phone at 215.985.0420 and range from $5 for enrolled college students to $25 for the general public.

Anna Deavere Smith last appeared at PTC in Let Me Down Easy in 2011 for which she won the Barrymore Award for Best Actress. In association with Philadelphia Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep and Center Stage, she is currently developing The Pipeline Project which will address the increasing numbers of American youngsters - especially African-American males - being "shuttled" from school into the criminal justice system. She is probably most recognizable in popular culture as Nancy McNally, national security advisor on NBC's long-running hit The West Wing and as Gloria Akalitus on Showtime's current hit series Nurse Jackie. The recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award, Smith's work blends theatrical art, social commentary, journalism and intimate musings. Twilight: Los Angeles received two Tony nominations, an OBIE, Drama Desk Award, and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle, and Fires in the Mirror, examining a race riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (1991), when age-old racial tensions between black and Jewish neighbors exploded, received an OBIE Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She was the 2013 recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize awarded to "a man or a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life." She is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, among them those from Juilliard, The University of Pennsylvania, Arcadia Northwestern, Williams College, Radcliffe, Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Barnard, Spelman, The John Jay College of Criminal Justice and many more.

PTC's 40th Anniversary season continues with brownsville song (b-side for tray) by Kimber Lee (May 1-May 31), co-produced with the Long Wharf Theatre; and the Off-Broadway hit musical comedy Murder for Two with book and music by Joe Kinosian and book and lyrics by Kellen Blair (June 6-June 28).

Founded in 1974, Philadelphia Theatre Company is a leading regional theatre company that produces, develops and presents entertaining and imaginative contemporary theatre focused on the American experience. By developing new work through commissions, readings and workshops, PTC generates a national impact and reaches broad regional audiences. Under the guidance of PTC's Executive Producing Director, Sara Garonzik, since 1982 and Executive Managing Director Priscilla M. Luce, who joined the leadership team in early April of 2013, PTC supports the work of a growing body of diverse dramatists and takes pride in being a home to many nationally recognized artists who have participated in more than 140 world and Philadelphia premieres. PTC has received 53 Barrymore Awards and 169 nominations.