Abstract
Urgent and inspiring, Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education outlines the civil rights crisis currently erupting at the intersection between America’s education system and its mass incarceration epidemic. In act one, Anna Deavere Smith introduces the students, parents, teachers, and administrators caught in America’s school-to-prison “pipeline” through her trademark portrait performances. A leader in national conversations on race and justice, Smith (Fires in the Mirror; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Let Me Down Easy; “Nurse Jackie”) now asks audiences to talk back. In the tradition of call and response, a second act before a final coda performance invites audiences to reflect on how we might begin to collectively move forward from difficult histories and devastating social policies. (ART website)
Marya Lowry, personal vocal coach for Anna Deavere Smith.