Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith discusses “Let Me Down Easy,” her one-woman show examines the miracle of human resilience through the lens of the national debate on health care. She interviewed 300 people on three continents, and she inhabits characters from a rodeo bull rider to a prize fighter to a New Orleans doctor during Hurricane Katrina, as well as former Texas Governor Ann Richards, cyclist Lance Armstrong, film critic Joel Siegel, and supermodel Lauren Hutton. “Let Me Down Easy” premieres on PBS January 13, at 9 pm.

Playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith was on the Lopate Show recently to discuss bringing her one-woman show, "Let Me Down Easy," to PBS's Great Performances. She also revealed what she's been listening to and what her (very healthy) comfort food is!

Watch an excerpt from Let Me Down Easy:

Watch an excerpt from Let Me Down Easy:

Anna Deavere Smith is best known for playing the national security advisor on The West Wing but she’s also a theater pioneer –- writing and performing plays based on hundreds of interviews with real people. On stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival, ...

Anna Deavere Smith is a playwright and professor. She also plays the national security advisor on the NBC’s The West Wing. In 1996 she interviewed Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and others who were shaping the election; and then she performed selections of those interviews verbatim, exactly as she ...

Anna Deavere Smith is a playwright and professor. She also plays the national security advisor on the NBC's The West Wing. In 1996 she interviewed Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and others who were shaping the election; and then she performed selections of those interviews verbatim, exactly as she ...