Recent Publications from Fellow Cynthia Schneider
Cynthia Schneider, “Hard Power Trumps Soft in U.S. Policy Towards Egypt”, December 23, 2011, Huffington Post
Cynthia Schneider with Khaled Abol Naga, “Egypt’s Elections Can’t be Trusted”, November 29, 2011, CNN
Cynthia Schneider, “The Gospel of Sufism in Post-Revolutionary Egypt”, September 16, 2011, Huffington Post
THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Presents Anna Deavere Smith’s Acclaimed “Let Me Down Easy"
Anna Deavere Smith's latest production, Let Me Down Easy, airs on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, January 13th at 9 pm on PBS (check local listings).
Conceived, written and performed by Smith in her signature one-person performance style, the play examines the miracle of human resilience through the lens of our current national debate on health care.
Originally presented at Long Wharf Theatre, the play received its New York premiere at Second Stage Theatre. The Great Performances production was recorded in February 2011 in the Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, DC, launching a national tour that concluded in September.
Anna Deavere Smith responds to death of Vaclav Havel
Bard College Appoints Fellow Gideon Lester to Faculty and Director of Theater Programs
image: Kevin Thomas Garcia
Bard College announces the appointment of performing arts curator, artistic director, and dramaturg Gideon Lester to the College faculty, naming him Director of Theater Programs and Professor of Theater. He will head the undergraduate theater program at Bard, where he will teach full time, and also curate the professional Fisher Center and SummerScape theater and dance offerings. Lester, whose appointment is effective fall 2012, will also serve as a dance and theater consultant for the Fisher Center this spring.
“We’re delighted to welcome Gideon Lester,” said Bard College President Leon Botstein. “He succeeds the esteemed and distinguished JoAnne Akalaitis, who is retiring after 14 years as the head of the Theater Department at Bard. Gideon Lester will not only take over her duties, but will also become a colleague crucial to the development of Bard’s public offerings and graduate programs.”
Huffington Post: "Gains and Losses" by Anna Deavere Smith
image: Diana Walker
In 2005, I went to Africa to do research for my latest one-woman show Let Me Down Easy. The play is about resilience and vulnerability: physical, spiritual, and political. The play pivots, in part, around issues to do with medical care. It is based on interviews that I then turn into a one woman show in which I portray several characters. To create Let Me Down Easy, I conducted over 300 interviews on three continents.
In the current production, I portray 20 people, the majority of whom are American. However, when I conducted my research, I was concerned by images I saw of Black African people in distress in major U.S. publications. Were these photos engendering action, or merely pity or worst apathy? I thought I would go to see for myself: How dire were the situations? Was there more than the camera captured? Read the full article at Huffington Post.