Actress, playwright Anna Deavere Smith to address King Convocation Feb. 11
Actress, playwright, and professor Anna Deavere Smith will speak at UC Santa Cruz's 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation on Thursday, February 11.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Actress, playwright, and professor Anna Deavere Smith will speak at UC Santa Cruz’s 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation on Thursday, February 11.
The title of Smith's speech is "Race in America: Crossroads of Ambiguity."
Held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, the convocation will begin at 7 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the campus celebration of Black History Month.
Campus radio station KZSC ( 88.1 FM ) will broadcast the event live.
Anna Deavere Smith is at the top of the list of speakers the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation Committee has wanted to bring to Santa Cruz for some time now, said Catherine Faris, associate vice chancellor, Donor Relations and Development.
"We are especially pleased that she is available this year because of her work in examining issues of community, character, and diversity," Faris said. "We have experienced growing, gang-related violence in Santa Cruz, which may be exacerbated by economic insecurity. Ms. Smith's work offers parallels for our own community challenges in terms of racial and economic inequality while illuminating the humanity that binds all of us together."
UCSC officials will also present the Tony Hill Award, a tradition begun last year. Hill, a prominent community activist and treasured mentor who died in 2007, had been involved in planning the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation every year since its start.
Event organizers will give the award to a nominee who demonstrates the hallmarks of Hill's life: mentor, inspirational leader, gifted mediator, and bridge-builder in the community. The recipient of the award will receive $500 to donate to the charity of his or her choice. Nominations are being accepted through Thursday, January 21.
Anna Deavere Smith's career covers mainstream culture as well as academia. Her work in the theater explores American character and our multifaceted national identity. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations, and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror.
She is said to have created a new form of theater, combining the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. The New York Times called her "the ultimate impressionist, she does people's souls."
Her television shows include Presidio Med, The West Wing, The Practice, and the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie. Films include The American President, Dave, The Human Stain, and Rachel Getting Married.
She is the author of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Fires in the Mirror; and House Arrest. Her newest play is Let Me Down Easy. Her books include Talk to Me and Letters to a Young Artist.
A professor at New York University, she is also founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a center for artistic excellence addressing social change. She serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art and the Aspen Institute.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation was established during Robert Sinsheimer’s tenure as chancellor, and "is one of the enduring community events that celebrates the partnership of the UC Santa Cruz campus and its neighbors," said Faris.
In addition to UCSC, the 2010 convocation is sponsored by the City of Santa Cruz, Inner Light Ministries, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and the Good Times, and is supported by the Santa Cruz branch of the NAACP.
For more information, visit the King Memorial Convocation site.
UCSC shuttles will be provided for transportation to the Civic Auditorium and return to campus after the event.
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