Anna Deavere Smith Let Me Down Easy

"She casts a radiance on the many ways in which we care for one another, as well as ourselves."—Variety

Anna Deavere Smith is one of the foremost solo theater artists of our time and a highly respected actress who has created numerous memorable characters on stage, in film, and on television. You may recognize her from Showtime's Nurse Jackie or remember her from The West Wing or such movies as Rachel Getting Married, The American President, and Philadelphia. In her solo theater productions, she has pioneered the journalistic style of portraying multiple real-life characters with texts drawn verbatim from her own interviews, resulting in the awarding-winning shows Twilight: Los Angeles and Fires in the Mirror.

Now she returns to the Wexner Center with her latest production, Let Me Down Easy, which incisively examines coping with illness, injury, survivorship, and mortality. This moving play was first intended as a departure from past shows centered on timely, hot-button issues like race and politics. Commissioned by Yale University's medical school to create a play about the human body, she honed the focus in response to recurrent themes in the interviews. By the time Let Me Down Easy became an off-Broadway hit in 2008, it was seen as a reflection of the politically polarized debate over health care and a highly visible point of reference for television and press reporters.

In Let Me Down Easy, Smith brings us voices whose unique perspectives and personal experiences of facing illness and navigating our health-care system ring too true to be denied. The 20 characters she uncannily channels range from regularly banged up rodeo star Brent Williams, to cycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, to outspoken former Texas governor Ann Richards, who eventually succumbed to that disease, along with Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler and risk-taking choreographer Elizabeth Streb, among others. Smith takes you on a journey of insight, empathy, and understanding through a remarkable night of thought-provoking theater you'll long remember. The New York Times describes it as "a vivid compendium of life experienced at its extremes, drawn equally from the suffering and the ministering sides of the story," filled with "details that add to the verisimilitude of the testimony."



Director's Dialogue
The Wexner Center's annual Director's Dialogue on Art and Social Change takes Smith's Let Me Down Easy as a springboard for a timely discussion about the past, present, and future of medical care in the United States and the issues that face heath-care professionals and the public alike. In a live conversation at Mershon Auditorium on February 28 at 7 PM, Smith trades insights with Dr. Steven Gabbe, senior vice president for Health Sciences and chief executive officer at the Ohio State University Medical Center, and moderator Patricia J. Williams, the renowned legal scholar, author, and commentator. Follow the link above for details.


Lead support for the Wexner Center's presentation of Let Me Down Easy is generously provided by The Ohio State University Medical Center.

Major support is provided by Cardinal Health.

Lead event media support is generously provided by Dispatch Media Group.

Additional media support is provided by Time Warner Cable.

Wednesday, February 23 is a performance for Ohio State University students cosponsored by The Ohio State University's Office of Student Life, D-Tix, and the Wexner Center.

Anna Deavere Smith on Bill Moyers Journal (PBS):