Fall Fundraiser for Urban Arts and Scholarship Program
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
Acclaimed actor, author and playwright Anna Deavere Smith – who will headline COCA’s Fall Fundraiser on Friday, Nov. 3 – will do just about anything to help something as important as an arts institution.
In 2005 she was auctioned off at a charity fundraiser.
The highest bidder, the grandmother of a 14-year-old aspiring painter, won for her granddaughter one year of mentoring from Deavere Smith.
An artist on which nothing is lost, Deavere Smith turned her letters to the young girl into a book.
The book, published January 2006, is Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making A Life In The Arts – For Actors, Performers, Writers and Artists of Every Kind.
The book – which owes its title to Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous Letters to a Young Poet – is filled with letters that Deavere Smith penned to answer questions from the young artist.
The year that Deavere Smith mentored the young artist, she had a role on the hit TV drama West Wing.
Other TV roles have been The Practice and Presidio Med.
She has had roles in the films Philadelphia, The American President, The Human Stain and Rent.
But it is theatre where Deavere Smith really does her thing.
Deavere Smith is the creator of an acclaimed series of one-woman plays based on her interviews with diverse voices of communities in crisis.
She calls the 19-year series On the Road: A Search for American Character.
The work, which explores our multifaceted national identity, has been acclaimed by the media, critics and audiences across the country.
Her play Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities explored the 1991 clash between Jews and blacks in that community and was the runner-up for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 examined the civil unrest following the popular Rodney King verdict and drew critical acclaim. The film adaptation premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film festival and was broadcast on PBS.
Deavere Smith’s House Arrest explored the role of the presidency throughout American history.
She will debut her new play, Let Me Down Easy, at the Public Theatre in New York this season.
The MacArthur Foundation awarded her a prestigious fellowship in 1996, saying, she “has created a new form of theatre – a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism and intimate reverie.”
The New York Times has called her “the ultimate impressionist: she does people’s souls.”
Newsweek hailed her as “the most exciting individual in American Theatre.”
COCA Executive Director Stephanie Riven said, “Her interests in writing, performance, creativity and community are a great match for COCA. We are honored to host a speaker and performer of her stature.”
COCA’s fall fundraiser – An Evening with Anna – begins with a cocktail hour at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, featuring students and adults in performances throughout the building, 524 Trinity Ave. in the U. City Loop. A seated dinner begins at 7 p.m.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit COCA’s Urban Arts and Scholarship Program, which provides more than $600,000 of free arts education to more than 4,000 low-income youth in St. Louis.
COCA’s strives in its next phase of institutional development to reach the entire community to support the creative development of local actors.
In doing so, COCA has recognized that theatre education should give the actor, writer, director, students and audiences a place to express their ideas, both individually and collaboratively.
With the expansion of the Theatre Department, COCA will bring the COCA Family Series, actors’ workshops, on-site theatre classes, Urban Arts Theatre programs, COCA’s county programs and resident theatre company together under one umbrella.
COCA’s new Anheuser-Busch Black Box theatre will provide space for rehearsals, recitals, master classes, workshops, film and smaller performances and allows COCA to expand its educational and performance opportunities.
The McEphsten Backstage Studio/Shop enables COCA to present more sophisticated performances, better accommodate resident and touring artists and provide classes in costume and set design.
For more information on COCA and the fundraiser, call (314) 725-1834, ext. 134 or visit www.cocastl.org.
