AUDIO: Anna Deavere Smith Talks of America's New Oral History of Gun Violence and The Black Lives Matter Movement

Broadway began to notice playwright/performer Anna Deavere Smith in 1994, when she received both Best Actress and Best Play Tony nominations for TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992, based on interviews with people who had experienced the Rodney King riots.

She has created more than 18 one-person oral history plays based on hundreds of interviews, most of which deal with social issues. Her most recent one-person show, LET ME DOWN EASY, focused on health care in the U.S.

On WNYC's "The Takeaway," Smith talks with host John Hockenberry about the new oral history surrounding America's rising awareness of the country's gun violence and rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Anna Deavere Smith's NOTES FROM THE FIELD: DOING TIME IN EDUCATION begins previews at Second Stage Theatre on October 11th, with an opening night to be scheduled for later in October.

Urgent and inspiring, it depicts the personal accounts of students, parents, teachers and administrators caught in America's school-to-prison pipeline. Investigating a justice system that pushes minors from poor communities out of the classroom and into incarceration, NOTES FROM THE FIELD: DOING TIME IN EDUCATION shines a light on a lost generation of American youth. Drawn from interviews with more than 200 people living and working within a challenged system, Anna Deavere Smith continues her mastery of the documentary solo performance by stimulating awareness and ultimately, change for the better.