I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a very subversive activity, because I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. But if I went off in the corner and mimicked the teacher, people loved it.
Anna Deavere Smith | teacher Read More »
When I got out of acting school, I was lucky to have gotten any job at all. A lot of people hiring African American actresses – it was right after ‘Roots,’ and for society, not me, it was great. Nice richly dark-skinned people was the fashion, and I was not.
Anna Deavere Smith | society Read More »
My main concern is theater, and theater does not reflect or mirror society. It has been stingy and selfish, and it has to do better.
Anna Deavere Smith | society Read More »
To live your life well, and have respect for what came before or after – there’s a strong respect for that in African culture.
Anna Deavere Smith | respect Read More »
Somehow we can’t live outside the politics of race. There’s something very deep in all of us, that is taught to us when we are very, very little. Which is the disrespect and fear of the other.
Anna Deavere Smith | politics Read More »
I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.
Anna Deavere Smith | leadership Read More »
President Obama called for a ‘we’ nation in his Inauguration Address. Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds, opens our hearts and makes us brave. And that’s what we need most in our country today.
Anna Deavere Smith | inspirational Read More »
I made a real specific decision when I came out of school and most artists were writing about home – if you were a woman, you were writing about being a woman – and I decided not to do that, write about what you know. That’s not what I do. I went as far away from home as possible in terms of the development of my imagination.
Anna Deavere Smith | imagination Read More »