Playwright and Actress Anna Deavere Smith on "Fires in the Mirror"

Actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith. She’s best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” about the Rodney King verdict, and “Fires in the Mirror” about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show “House Arrest” took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deveare Smith has also written a new memoir, “Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines” (Random House).

Actress and Stanford Theater Professor, Anna Deavere Smith. She performs solo, multi-casted pieces, the scripts of which are transcripts of interviews with real participants of events. "Fires in the Mirrors" (aired on PBS) gave voice to the many facets of the Crown Heights riots.

Obie Award-winning playwright Adrienne Kennedy has a new, unconventional memoir called People Who Led to My Plays. She explores the experience of growing up as an African American in suburban Ohio, her drive to excel artistically and academically, and the people who influenced her throughout her life.