Anna Deavere Smith, a noted author and playwright and a professor at New York University, treated members of the University community Monday night to a series of performances highlighting how the lies of civic leaders affect the country’s citizens.
Smith is perhaps most recognizable for her role on NBC’s drama “The West Wing,” where she plays a national security adviser.
Appearing in Hill Hall as a guest lecturer for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Smith used her acting skill to talk about why people allow leaders to lie to them.
In doing research for her books and plays, Smith has interviewed people across the country. That background, said Martha Crunkleton, executive director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, is what makes Smith ideal to provide insight into what it means to be an American.
“Anna Deavere Smith listens to a hundred Americans before writing anything,” Crunkleton said. “The diversity of our country is not generalized, but shown. Her plays show us our country and its citizens.”
Making the event more of one-woman play than a lecture, Smith reenacted some of her interviews to illustrate how Americans have reacted to the falsehoods leaders in government, media and education tell the public.
One performance recounted reactions from different people when confronted with questions about Thomas Jefferson’s ambiguity on the issue of slavery and the allegations that Jefferson had children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings.
With great animation, Smith recalled the excuses offered by a tour guide from Monticello, Jefferson’s Virginia home, when asked about the former president’s actions. She also acted out an interview with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns on the subject.
When asked why she picked those interviews on Jefferson, Smith said his story embodies the discomfort Americans feel about the discrepancy between the facts of history and how those facts are painted.
