Anna-Deavere Smith News

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.

Fela!, the critically acclaimed musical that had audiences on their feet during its world premiere last summer at Off-Broadway's 37 Arts, will arrive on Broadway this fall where it begins performances at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street) on Monday, October 19. The official opening is set for Monday, November 23. This new musical, based on the life of groundbreaking African composer, performer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is directed and choreographed by Tony® Award-winner Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening), with a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones. Sahr Ngaujah will return in the title role for which he received universal acclaim, while the world renowned Antibalas and other members of the NYC Afrobeat community, under the direction of Aaron Johnson, will again perform Kuti?s rousing music live onstage. Winner of this year?s Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, Fela! was conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Steve Hendel.

Producers Angelo Fraboni and Daryl Roth have announced that the New York premiere of Vigil, written by Morris Panych and directed by Stephen DiMenna, will begin performances Sunday, September 20, at 3pm at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15 Street, east of Union Square. The opening is scheduled for Tuesday, September 29 at 7pm.

16th Street Theater and North Berwyn Park District debut Season Three 2010: What is Home? Saturday, December 5 from 5:00 - 6:30 PM at the Berwyn Cultural Center with food, drink and excerpts from the upcoming 2010 season.

The Subjective Theater Company (STC) would like to invite audiences to come and be absolutely scandalized and deeply offended by its third production of the 2009/2010 season, JUMP JIM CROW: HOW TO PRODUCE YOUR OWN MINSTREL SHOW.

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.

Celebrating one of today's greatest raconteurs, The Moth will present acclaimed actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith with The 2009 Moth Award at its annual Moth Ball on Tuesday, November 17th in New York City.

Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith have enthusiastically joined the producing team of Fela!, the new Broadway musical based on the life and music of African composer and performer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, marking the first Broadway production that these entertainment icons have presented.

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith have enthusiastically joined the producing team of Fela!, the new Broadway musical based on the life and music of African composer and performer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, marking the first Broadway production that these entertainment icons have presented.

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.

Rocco Landesman and the NEA have angered many a woman today with the news that they will not be funding the Women's Project's Playwrights Lab this year. According to a report in Time Out New York, part of the reason is because the NEA, which has steadily supported the Women's Project for many years, is no longer supporting general operating budgets. Instead they are underwriting specific projects.

Lynx Theater very proudly presents BILL BOWERS in a Gala Performance of his acclaimed, one-man show to benefit Lynx Ensemble's 2010 Season!

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.

'Why do I feel like a f**king tourist in my own neighborhood!?!' That is the angry, anguished cry of Robert, a Polish-Puerto Rican native of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who has seen the crime and neglect of his lifelong neighborhood remedied by a gentrifying influx of high-end restaurants, art galleries and expensive building complexes that have priced long-time residents out of their communities.

Kelly Hutchinson, Andy Paris and Maggie Siff began rehearsals today (09/29) for Women's Project's world premiere production of Liz Duffy Adams's restoration-style comedy Or, directed by Wendy McClellan.

Women's Project will present the world premiere production of Liz Duffy Adams's restoration-style comedy Or, directed by Wendy McClellan and featuring Kelly Hutchinson, Andy Paris and Maggie Siff.

Women's Project will present the world premiere production of Liz Duffy Adams's restoration-style comedy Or, directed by Wendy McClellan and featuring Kelly Hutchinson, Andy Paris and Maggie Siff.

The Kennedy Center today announced the casting of Emmy and Tony Award® winning actress Tyne Daly as Maria Callas in the production of Master Class by Terrence McNally which will run March 25 - April 18, 2010 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.