Anna-Deavere Smith News

United Solo named Sir Ian McKellen as the winner of the 2020 United Solo Special Award. McKellen was awarded for his solo performance, “Ian McKellen on Stage: Tolkien, Shakespeare and You!”, which toured across the United Kingdom last year before coming to London’s West End for a limited run.

This New Year's Eve. PBS will present a concert, United In Song: Celebrating The Resilience Of America, premiering Thursday, December 31, 2020 from 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET.

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris has announced the launch of The Golden Collection, composed of 15 plays by prominent Black playwrights including Slave Play, which has received a historic 12 Tony Award nominations more than any other play in Broadway history.

The 48th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards occurred virtually on Monday, November 30, 2020 at 7pm hosted by Roger Guenveur Smith, the AUDELCO award winning actor, best known for his “The Huey P. Newton Story” and as Smiley in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”! and LaChanze, AUDELCO award winner for “The Secret Life of Bees” and 2006 Tony award winner for “The Color Purple”. 

Nouveau Productions (Nouveau) announced today the release of UNITED IN SONG: CELEBRATING THE RESILIENCE OF AMERICA, which premieres Thursday, December 31, 2020 from 8:00-9:30 p.m.

New Repertory Theatre has added ten fantastic new members to its Board of Directors. Working alongside New Rep's Anti-Racism Action Plan, which states that board will be comprised of 50% members of color by July 2023, members who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color now account for 33.3% of the board. 

The United Solo Theatre Festival, the world’s largest solo performance festival, has announced their nominees for the 2020 United Solo Special Award: Laura Linney, Bellina Logan, Sir Ian McKellen, and Andrew Scott for their outstanding solo productions.

My Name Is Lucy Barton star Laura Linney, acclaimed performer Bellina Logan, acting legend Sir Ian McKellen, and Fleabag star Andrew Scott are among the nominees for the The United Solo Theatre Festival's 2020 United Solo Special Award.

The Broadway Advocacy Coalition has announced the inaugural class of fellows selected to participate in the BAC Artivism Fellowship, created to support artist-activists using their tools to have an impact on the world around them.

The 48th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards will occur virtually on Monday, November 30, 2020 at 7pm and will be hosted by Roger Guenveur Smith, the AUDELCO award winning actor, best known for his 'The Huey P. Newton Story' and as Smiley in Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing'!

27 Characters, 1 performer, allow me to say it again…27 DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, 1 PERFORMER. Over the course of a 2 Hour span, 1 Performer has the daunting task of honing in on 27 different perspectives, different accounts of a real event. A real event that happened in 1992 but hits just as hard at the core today as it did a mere 28 years ago. Think about that for a minute; an event that happened 28 years ago is just as real, just as haunting today as it was back then. In a world surrounded by testimony on all sides of the spectrum, in a world surrounded by opinions where does the grey area fall? Why are events so controversial then be just as relevant in the world we know today? This brings back to memory the prologue from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean…” Now 28 years later this has very much become, “…the two-hour traffic of our stage.”

Signature Theatre has announced today that their 2021-22 Season will feature five works by five Resident Playwrights, including a production by Signature's Residency 1 playwright Anna Deavere Smith, world premiere plays from Residency 5 playwrights Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Samuel D. Hunter & a New York premiere by Dominique Morisseau.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory is presenting its first entirely online production, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, streaming from December 9 - 20, 2020. The show was originally announced to run from December 2 -13 but these dates have been shifted and the show will now be available from December 9 -20.

UCCS Presents and Theatreworks present House Arrest, a play by Anna Deavere Smith.

Thirty years ago, the nation watched the police beating of Rodney King and the ensuing riots in Los Angeles unfold on television in real time, right in their living rooms. This Fall, Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (DDTCo.) presents a streaming cinematic theatre production of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, directly to audiences for 16 nights, Nov. 6-21, 2020.

Despite an ever-changing world, Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) continues to innovate and find new ways to engage its diverse student body of young artists, preparing them for success in college and future careers. Among the many unique learning opportunities OCSA provides is the Master Artist Series, which enters its fifth season during 2020-2021.

Sterling K. Brown will take over the role of Leo in the upcoming HBO Max staged reading of an episode of 'The West Wing.'

An exclusive viewing party of the first production to kick-off Crossroads Theatre Company's 2020-2021 season is being offered to the theatre's members on Sunday, October 4 at 4pm Eastern time via ZOOM. The Members Only event will feature Crossroads alumnus Anna Deavere Smith's film Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. 

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center has announced the new line-up of its new global series, SEGAL TALKS. Since the beginning in March the series featured close to 100 talks with 150 artists from 50 countries. 

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh; Andreas G. Frank, president, Front Line Care, Hillrom Company; Senator Rachel May (D-53rd) New York State Senate; and Syracuse Police Chief Kenton T. Buckner are the first guests in a series of eight video interviews, a?oe100 Conversations for Change,a?? a new initiative from 100 Black Men of Syracuse, created and hosted by President Drake Harrison and produced in partnership with Syracuse Stage and Black Cub Productions.