NOTES FROM THE FIELD - INTERVIEW WITH ANNA DEAVERE SMITH

Talk about one talented and busy lady! Anna Deavere Smith’s long list of credits includes Nurse Jackie, The West Wing and The Human Stain. She may best be known to viewers for her current role as Rainbow’s mother on the hit series Black-ish.  She is about to co-star in the new Shonda Rhimes series, For The People. 

She stars in the new HBO film Notes From the Field, adapted from her acclaimed one-woman show about America’s failed justice system which premieres on Saturday February 24th.  

Notes From The Field is adapted from Deavere Smith's acclaimed one-woman show about America’s Failed Justice System. Enlightening and empathetic, the film tackles questions of race and class through compelling first-person stories, drawing on the accounts of well-known figures like Rep. John Lewis, NAACP Legal Defense Fund president Sherrilyn Ifill and activist Bree Newsome, as well as everyday people struggling in a broken system. Culled from hours of interviews conducted by Deavere Smith with more than 250 people across the country, NOTES FROM THE FIELD showcases her extraordinary gift for transforming herself into diverse characters as she recreates each person’s speech patterns, movements and emotions. The New York Times named it among The Best Theater of 2016 and Time magazine named it as one of the Top 10 Plays of the year.

Anna Deavere Smith has previously starred as Gloria Akalitus on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, and the National Security Advisor on NBC's The West Wing. Films include The American President, Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia, Dave, Rent, and The Human Stain. When she is not busy working on a new play or starring in a new film, Deavere Smith is a professor at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. 

I spoke with this brilliant and talented lady about Notes From the Field and much more via satellite from New York.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD PREMIÈRES ON FEBRUARY 24YTH ON HBO

FOR THE PEOPLE DEBUTS ON MARCH 13TH ON ABC