Second Stage Theatre Presents Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY 9/15-11/8, Opens 10/7

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) will launch its 31st season this fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY will begin preview performances on Tuesday, September 15 and will officially open on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:45pm. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com.

Channeling a dramatic range of interview subjects, from artists and athletes to doctors and those they treat, LET ME DOWN EASY is a virtuosic and moving exploration of the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit, featuring first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas Governor Ann Richards. With her trademark journalistic precision, Anna Deavere Smith, one of the most acclaimed and provocative theater artists of our time, explores the world of healthcare from both the patient and practitioner perspective in this timely and absorbing new play.

LET ME DOWN EASY will have scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design by Ann Hould-Ward, and lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer.

During the eight-year development of this project, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of subjects, including doctors and patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine and Stanford School of Medicine and Hospital, as well as healthcare practitioners in Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Working closely with director Leonard Foglia, Ms. Smith has re-conceived LET ME DOWN EASY from the earlier developmental versions presented at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre (winter 2008) and Boston's American Repertory Theatre (summer 2008).

Anna Deavere Smith's work in the theater explores American character and our multifaceted national identity. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. She is said to have created a new form of theater. Her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. The New York Times called her "the ultimate impressionist, she does people's souls." She has appeared on the television shows The West Wing, Presidio Med, The Practice, and the new Showtime television series, Nurse Jackie. Films include Rachel Getting Married, The American President, Philadelphia, The Human Stain, Life Support, and Dave. Her plays include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Fires in the Mirror; and House Arrest. Her books include Talk To Me and Letters to A Young Artist. A professor at New York University, she is also the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a center for artistic excellence addressing social change. She is the recipient of several honorary degrees.

Leonard Foglia most recently directed Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. Other Broadway credits include Master Class with Zoe Caldwell (also national tour and West End), On Golden Pond with Leslie Uggams and James Earl Jones, and Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway: Encores! One Touch of Venus (City Center), The Stendahl Syndrome by Terrence McNally (Primary Stages), By the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club, Bay Street Theatre Festival), Lonely Planet (Circle Repertory Company), If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena Playhouse). Regional: Paper Doll (Pittsburgh Public Theater, Long Wharf Theatre); The Last True Believer (Seattle Rep.); Seascape, The Woman in Black and A Coffin in Egypt by Horton Foote (Bay Street Theatre Festival); Dinner With Friends and God's Man in Texas (Old Globe Theatre); Art, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Heidi Chronicles, Reckless, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Trinity Repertory Company). Opera: Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie, Terrence McNally (New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera); The End of the Affair by Heggie, Heather McDonald (Houston Grand Opera). He is co-author of the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road and Face Down in the Park, both published by Pocket Books.

Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theatre produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America's best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by ReGina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman. The company's more than 125 citations include the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley) for Next to Normal, the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 23 Obie Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, five Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theatre Uptown" series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

Second Stage Theatre recently announced that it has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theatre companies that own and operate theatres on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theatres on the city's Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.

LET ME DOWN EASY will be performed through Sunday, November 8, 2009 at Second Stage Theatre (307 West 43rd Street, just west of 8th Avenue) on the following schedule: Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8:00pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm.

NOTE: All weekday evening performances the week of October 20 will begin at 7:00pm. Weekend curtain times remain the same.

NOTE: There will be no 2:00pm performance on Wednesday, September 16 and 23, and October 7. There will be an added 7:00pm performance on Sunday, October 11.

Tickets are $70 and may be purchased by phoning 212-246-4422 or 800-766-6048 or online at www.2ST.com. Patrons age 30 and under may purchase a limited number of specially-priced $30 tickets in advance. A limited number of student rush tickets are $15 and are available 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Group tickets are available by phoning 212-889-4300 or (800) 331-0472. Box-office hours are Monday, 10:00am - 6:00pm, Tuesday 10:00am - 7:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday, 10:00am to 3:00pm.

For more information, visit www.2ST.com.

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