Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education

(she/her) A.R.T.: Notes from the Field, Let Me Down Easy, Fires in the Mirror (Pulitzer Prize runner-up). Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author. She is credited with having created a new form of theater. Smith’s work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. President Obama awarded Smith the National Humanities Medal in 2013. Additional honors include the prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for achievement in the arts, the George Polk Career Award in Journalism, two Tony nominations, and several honorary degrees. She was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Smith has created over fifteen one-person shows based on hundreds of interviews. Her most recent play, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, looks at the vulnerability of youth, inequality, the criminal justice system, and contemporary activism. The New York Times named it among The Best Theater of 2016 and Time magazine named it one of the Top 10 Plays of that year. In 2018, HBO premiered the film version of Notes from the Field. Smith’s play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was recently named one of the best plays of the last twenty-five years by The New York Times. Smith currently appears on the hit television show “Black-ish.” Previously she appeared in “For the People,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “The West Wing.” Films include The American President, Philadelphia, and Rachel Getting Married. She is a University Professor at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

Composer/Performer

A.R.T.: Debut. Marcus Anthony Shelby is a composer, arranger, bassist, and educator who currently lives in San Francisco. His work and music have focused on the history, present, and future of African American lives, social movements, and early childhood music education. In 1990, Shelby received the Charles Mingus Scholarship to attend Cal Arts and study composition with James Newton and bass with Charlie Haden. From 1990-1996, Shelby was bandleader of Columbia Records Recording Artists Black/ Note. Currently, Shelby is artist in residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. In 2013, Shelby received a MAP Fund Award to compose Beyond the Blues: A Prison Oratorio, an original composition for big band orchestra about the prison industrial complex. In 2015, Shelby was commissioned by Anna Deveare Smith to compose the score for her new play Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education. Shelby also has arranged for Ledisi and the Count Basie Orchestra, recorded with Tom Waits, and received the City Flight Magazine 2005 award as one of the “Top Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area." Shelby teaches at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and in March 2013, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee appointed Shelby to the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Director

A.R.T.: Debut. Leonard Foglia is a theater and opera director and librettist. Original Broadway productions: Master Class with Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald (also West End with Patti LuPone, National tour with Faye Dunaway), Thurgood with Laurence Fishburne (filmed for HBO), The People in the Picture with Donna Murphy. Broadway revivals: The Gin Game with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson, On Golden Pond with Mr. Jones, Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway: Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy (filmed for PBS), The Stendhal Syndrome with Isabella Rossellini, One Touch of Venus (Encores!), If Memory Serves, Lonely Planet. Regional: Unusual Acts of Devotion, Distracted, Paper Doll, The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn, The Subject Was Roses, A Coffin in Egypt, God's Man in Texas. Opera: Foglia directed the world premieres of Moby Dick (filmed for PBS), Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, etc., Everest (Dallas Opera); Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera); The End of the Affair (Houston Grand Opera, etc.); Three Decembers (Houston Grand Opera). His production of Dead Man Walking has been seen across the country. As a librettist, he wrote (and directed) El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, with composer José “Pepe” Martínez, commissioned by and premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago. It has played San Diego Opera and Houston Grand Opera; A Coffin in Egypt with composer Ricky Ian Gordon was commissioned by and premiered at Houston Grand Opera and has played, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, LA and The American Songbook at Lincoln Center. Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon with composer Martínez was commissioned by and premiered at Houston Grand Opera and has played, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Costume Designer

A.R.T.: Let Me Down Easy, Second Stage, “PBS Great Performances.” Broadway (selected credits): The Color Purple; The Visit; The People in the Picture; A Free Man of Color (Drama Desk nomination); A Catered Affair (Drama Desk nomination); Company (2006 revival); Beauty and the Beast (Tony Award); Into the Woods (Tony and Drama Desk nominations); Falsettos; Sunday in the Park with George (Tony and Drama Desk nominations); Saint Joan; Timon of Athens; Little Me. Off- Broadway: Passion, Classic Stage Company; Russian Transport; The Blue Flower; Road Show; Lobster Alice; Cymbeline. Ms. Hould-Ward’s work can be seen in over 35 International companies of Beauty and the Beast, and at The Salzburg Festival’s West Side Story, The Bronze Idol (Mikhailovsky Theatre), Dear World (West End), Schuh Des Mantu (Germany), Othello (Norwegian Ballet), and Imagine This (West End).

A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway (selected credits): Hamilton (Tony Award, Henry Hewes Design Award), After Midnight (Tony nomination), How to Succeed... (with Daniel Radcliffe, Tony nomination), West Side Story (Tony nomination), Gypsy (with Patti LuPone), In The Heights (Tony nomination), Jersey Boys (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Henry Hewes Design Award), Avenue Q, The Full Monty, Parade, Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Tony nomination, Olivier Award, Dora Award). Regional and Dance (selected credits): Billboards, The Joffrey Ballet; Co-Founder and Resident Lighting Designer for Parsons Dance. 2006 Henry Hewes Design Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Jersey Boys.

A.R.T.: Gloria: A Life, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education. Ms. McCarthy’s background in photography, film, and architecture has led to a twenty-five-year, worldwide career as an award-winning projection designer for live performance, including theater, dance, concerts, and opera. Career highlights include: Broadway: Wicked, Spamalot, Assassins, Into the Woods, Thurgood. Off-Broadway: Notes from the Field, Frequency Hopping (Scenic and Projection Design), Distracted (Scenic and Projection Design), Embedded. Opera: Iolanta, Everest, Tristan und Isolde, Moby Dick, Cold Mountain, Mazeppa, Dead Man Walking, War and Peace. The 2018-19 theater season had her working on three new Off-Broadway collaborations, all focusing on the lives of women.

(she/her) A.R.T.: Notes from the Field, Let Me Down Easy. Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Off-Broadway: Chains and over thirty other productions, Mint Theater; Islander (American Premiere), Playhouse 46; Notes from the Field, Second Stage (also London, HBO, audiobook); Let Me Down Easy, Second Stage (also PBS Great Performances); Regional: American Jade, Bucks County Playhouse; Ann, Cape May Playhouse; Fires in the Mirror, Theatrical Outfit. Film/TV: Zola, Selma, “Dietland,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Power,” “Dora the Explorer.” stollersystem.com

A.R.T.: Notes from the Field (also Berkeley Rep, Second Stage, HBO). Off-Broadway: A Rap on Race, Public Theater. Regional: On Grace, Harris Theatre; Let Me Down Easy (National Tour). include: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. General Manager Fellow, Black Theatre Coalition (over 101 productions).

Dramaturg
A.R.T.: Let Me Down Easy. Alisa teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she directs the MA concentration in Arts & Culture. A longtime theater critic and political journalist, she has written for The Nation, The New York Times, Howlround.com, The Forward, American Theatre, among other publications, and The Village Voice, where she was a staff writer for two decades. Her books include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender, and most recently, Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. Education: DFA, Dramaturgy and Criticism, Yale.

A.R.T.: Stage Manager: HEAR WORD!; Burn All Night; Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education; 1984; O.P.C.; The Shape She Makes; The Donkey Show. Assistant Stage Manager: Bedlam's Sense & Sensibility; The Night of the Iguana; Fingersmith; RoosevElvis; Kansas City Choir Boy; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; The Heart of Robin Hood; All the Way; The Glass Menagerie; The Lily’s Revenge; Once. Production Associate: Prometheus Bound; The Blue Flower; Cabaret. Education/Training: Graduate of Boston University (Summa cum laude) College of Fine Arts.

Assistant Stage Manager

A.R.T.: Debut. Off-Broadway: O Earth; Maurice Hines’ Tappin Thru Life, Charles Francis Chan Jr’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, Consent, The Last Starfighter, The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero, joy, Fame on 42nd Street, Potomac Theatre Project, Soho Rep, MCC, Cherry Lane, Manhattan Theatre Club. Festivals: NYMF, FringeNYC, NAMT, MITF. Regional: Flat Rock Playhouse, North Carolina Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Tours: Blue’s Clues Live!, TheatreworksUSA. Numerous BC/EFA events. Proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.

Associate Movement Coach

A.R.T.: Debut. Michael Bentt is a boxer, writer, producer, actor, and director. Boxing decorations include: WBO world heavyweight champion (1993), 4 New
York Golden Gloves titles, 5 U.S. national championships, Sugar Ray Robinson Award, Pan American Games (boxing team captain), North American Championship gold medal, U.S. Goodwill Games (boxing team captain). Film/TV (selected credits): Ali (with Will Smith), Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp), State Property 2, Million Dollar Baby, Blue, Girlfight, "Saturday Night Live," "JAG," "Sons of Anarchy," "Firefly," Kid Shamrock (director), Broken (director), work with directors Michael Mann, Ron Shelton, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Bill L. Norton. Boxing writing/ commentating (selected credits): HBO.com, "Bert Sugar's Fight Game," ESPN, BBC. He has also mentored, served as a guest speaker, and conducted seminars for juvenile facilities across the country and co-instructed acting workshops with Anna Deveare Smith. Training: Northampton Community College (journalism and acting), Tina Sattin NYC.

A.R.T.: Finding Neverland (Production Intern). Harvard: Black Magic on the Loeb Mainstage (Director, Co-writer); I, Too, Am Harvard (Director, Writer); Dreamgirls (Assistant Choreographer); Creator of I, Too, Am Harvard photo campaign; Co-founder of Renegade (POC art collective and magazine); member of Kuumba Singers of Harvard College; BlackC.A.S.T. In Development: Ragtime on Ellis Island (Dramaturg). Named one of The Root 2016 Young Futurists, Business Insider "19 Incredibly Impressive Students at Harvard." B.A. Harvard ’16.