Ann Richards News

ANN: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards with Emmy® Award-winning Actress Holland Taylor plays Austin's Paramount Theatre May 4-7.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is pleased to announce that it will launch the national tour of Second Stage Theatre's production Let Me Down Easy. This one-woman production, which is conceived, written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith (Nurse Jackie, Fires in the Mirror) and directed by Leonard Foglia (Broadway's Thurgood) and was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 of 2009, is 'a continually engaging and engrossing collection of testimonials' (The New York Times) that explores the fragility of the body and the resilience of the spirit. Let Me Down Easy closes February 13, 2011 in the Kreeger Theater.

It's been 15 years since she's performed on a Bay Area stage - now Anna Deavere Smith is returning.

Anna Deavere Smith's latest one-woman production, Let Me Down Easy, will be videotaped at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater by Great Performances in February for airing on PBS during the series' 2011-2012 season.

Anna Deavere Smith's latest one-woman production, Let Me Down Easy, will be videotaped at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater by Great Performances in February for airing on PBS during the series' 2011-2012 season.

Philadelphia Theatre Company continues its 35th Anniversary Season with the Philadelphia debut of Anna Deavere Smith in her one-woman, award-winning show Let Me Down Easy, running March 18 through April 10, 2011 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).

As we welcome in a new year of great theatre in the nation's capital, I thought it would be fun to do one of those “Best of 2010' lists as well as preview what's opening in January on DC area stages. So let's raise our glasses and offer a toast to all those theatre companies who gave us great productions in 2010, and to the upcoming 2011 theatre season!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is pleased to announce that it will launch the national tour of Second Stage Theatre's production Let Me Down Easy.

The Charline McCombs Empire Theatre presents the San Antonio premiere of ANN: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards, with Emmy® Award-winning stage and screen actress Holland Taylor.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is pleased to announce that it will launch the national tour of Second Stage Theatre's production Let Me Down Easy.

The Charline McCombs Empire Theatre presents the San Antonio premiere of ANN: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards, with Emmy® Award-winning stage and screen actress Holland Taylor.

A director of a South African orphanage comforts a teen infected with AIDS. A doctor in a New Orleans public hospital evacuates patients after Hurricane Katrina. Lance Armstrong and Gov. Ann Richards battle cancer. These are just a few of the stories Anna Deavere Smith brings to life in her new, acclaimed one-woman play, Let Me Down Easy, a collection of firsthand accounts of health care from those who have experienced it most intimately.

Second Stage Theatre is pleased to announce that the critically acclaimed production of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY, has extended four weeks, through December 6. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY opened on Wednesday, October 7 and was originally scheduled to run through November 8.

Second Stage Theatre will host a post-performance conversation between Anna Deavere Smith and Elizabeth Alexander following the Thursday, December 3 evening performance of Let Me Down Easy. A renowned poet, essayist and playwright, Elizabeth Alexander most recently composed and delivered the poem 'Praise Song for the Day' for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The conversation is free to all in attendance at the Thursday, December 3 8:00pm performance.

Due to popular demand, the critically acclaimed production of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY, now playing at Second Stage Theatre, has extended a second time and will now close on January 3, 2010. The show, which is currently extended through December 6, will not be performed December 14 - 20 due to Smith's previous commitment to perform Hymn with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at City Center.

Second Stage Theatre will host a post performance discussion with Anna Deavere Smith and three of her interview subjects from Let Me Down Easy following the Friday, November 20 performance.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) will launch its 31st season this fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY will begin preview performances on Tuesday, September 15 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:45pm.

Anna Deavere Smith's new play, LET ME DOWN EASY, currently playing off-Broadway, evolved from an original set of interviews done by Smith. While at Yale, the chairman of the department of medicine asked her to produce a play based on interviews with patients and doctors to present to the medical staff.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) will launch its 31st season this fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY will begin preview performances on Tuesday, September 15 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:45pm.

If you take a whiff of air somewhere in the vicinity of the Schoenfeld Theatre these days and sense a slight essence of Mickey Spillane, it's undoubtedly due to the presence of Keith Huff's hardboiled police melodrama, A Steady Rain. A crackling good story told with potent language and a couple of terrific performances, this is a hearty plateful of good old fashioned meat and potatoes theatre.