Notes from the Field

By: Anna Deavere Smith, Marcus Shelby

Narrated by: Anna Deavere Smith

"Smith’s powerful style of living journalism uses the collective, cathartic nature of the theater to move us from despair toward hope.” —The Village Voice

Anna Deavere Smith’s extraordinary form of documentary theater shines a light on injustices by portraying the real-life people who have experienced them. "One of her most ambitious and powerful works on how matters of race continue to divide and enslave the nation” (Variety).

Smith renders a host of figures who have lived and fought the system that pushes students of color out of the classroom and into prisons. (As Smith has put it: “Rich kids get mischief, poor kids get pathologized and incarcerated.”)

Using people’s own words, culled from interviews and speeches, Smith depicts Rev. Jamal Harrison Bryant, who eulogized Freddie Gray; Niya Kenny, a high school student who confronted a violent police deputy; activist Bree Newsome, who took the Confederate flag down from the South Carolina State House grounds; and many others. Their voices bear powerful witness to a great iniquity of our time—and call us to action with their accounts of resistance and hope.

Critic reviews

“Invaluable. . . . Absorbing. . . . Dazzling.” —The New York Times

“Deeply moving. . . . Dazzling stagecraft meets dazzling spectacle. . . . Magnificent. . . . Wonderful.” —Newsday

“Moving. . . . Smith is an effective and supremely talented conduit.” —Los Angeles Times

“Anna Deavere Smith has created one of her most ambitious and powerful works on how matters of race continue to divide and enslave the nation.” —Variety

“Devastating. . . . Astonishing. . . . Unquestionably great theater.” —Vulture

“Brilliant. . . . Anna Deavere Smith may be the most empathetic person in America.” —HuffPost

“[A] masterpiece. . . . Smith’s powerful style of living journalism uses the collective, cathartic nature of the theater to move us from despair toward hope.” —The Village Voice

“Urgently timely. . . . Audacious and mind-opening.” —Time Out New York

“This is captivating political theatre, a devastating document of racial inequality and the most rousing of rallying calls. Everyone should watch it.” —The Guardian

“A tour de force. . . . A coruscating indictment of the school-to-prison pipeline.” —Financial Times

“Stirring. . . . Powerful. . . . The scope is almost Shakespearean: the voices range from policy professionals to people on the street. If there’s an overarching thrust . . . it lies in the suggestion that the struggle for civil rights is ongoing: the legacy of segregation, its trauma too, endures and reasserts itself.” —The Telegraph (London)

Must Listen

This play was fantastic. The author/actor became each of the characters. It was deeply immersive and fascinating.

The topic of the school to prison pipeline was new to me. This play delivers the concept in a way that connects you to people. I highly recommend!

Excellent!

A Tour de Force. Recommended for anyone, but especially those in healthcare, education or social services. Stories that need to be heard! Thank you!!!