Wexner Center for the Arts: Visit: Anna Deavere Smith To Engage In Free Public Conversation

Annual Director's Dialogue on Art and Social Change

Anna Deavere Smith to engage in free public conversation

For immediate release: January 20, 2011

At the conclusion of her weeklong run of Let Me Down Easy—a solo theater tour-de-force about health care—Pulitzer Prize nominee Anna Deavere Smith has graciously agreed to participate in the Wexner Center’s annual Director’s Dialogue on Art and Social Change on Monday, February 28 at 7 pm in the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St. Joining her onstage for a conversation entitled Anna Deavere Smith: Listening to America will be Steven G. Gabbe, senior vice president for Health Sciences and chief executive officer at The Ohio State University Medical Center, and prominent legal scholar Patricia Williams from Columbia University. Admission is free. For those unable to attend, the event will be streamed-live at wexarts.org/live

Anna Deavere Smith has said, “I try to embody America by embodying its words.” The development of Smith’s solo production Let Me Down Easy allowed the artist to observe health care in America from a variety of perspectives, including those of patients, doctors, policymakers, and pastors. From over 300 extensive interviews, Smith created a series of 20 poignant portraits of individuals confronting serious illness, mortality, and a complex health-care system. Director’s Dialogue panelists will draw upon Let Me Down Easy (which will have been presented by the Wexner Center the week immediately prior) as a springboard for a timely discussion about the complex issues surrounding medical care in the United States, as they affect both health-care professionals and the general public.

Notes Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, “Our annual Director’s Dialogue brings together leading artists, scholars, and practitioners in their respective fields to discuss issues of contemporary social and cultural import. We are thrilled that Anna Deavere Smith, one of the foremost theater artists of our time, has agreed to extend her stay in Columbus in order to join in this year’s conversation with Steve Gabbe and Patricia Williams. Theirs is certain to be a riveting and thought-provoking exchange, once again illustrating the potent intersections between art and science on a university campus.”

More information on Anna Deavere Smith and the Columbus performances of Let Me Down Easy is available here: wexarts.org/info/press/1011/annadeavere

Dr. Steven Gabbe is senior vice president for Health Sciences and chief executive officer at The Ohio State University Medical Center, and a distinguished physician and educator who is one of the world's leading experts on the complications of diabetes and pregnancy. More info here: medicalcenter.osu.edu/aboutus/leadership/steven_gabbe

Moderating the conversation is renowned legal scholar and commentator Patricia J. Williams, a professor of law at Columbia University, a frequent columnist for The Nation, and the author of such books as The Alchemy of Race and Rights, Seeing a Color-Blind Future, and Open House. madlawprofessor.wordpress.com

The annual Director’s Dialogue is made possible in part by a lead endowment gift from an anonymous donor.