On April 29, 1992, nearly 20 years ago, an all-white jury acquitted four white Los Angeles Police Officers in the case of Rodney King, a black motorist who suffered severe injuries after a brutal beating from the LAPD. South Los Angeles promptly exploded into riots that lasted six days, leaving more than 50 people dead, thousands injured, and $1 billion in damage. Anna Deavere Smith is an playwright, actress and author of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," a one-woman show that Smith developed from interviews with 300 subjects involved in the Rodney King case and its aftermath. She reflects on the riots that tore the city apart, 20 years ago, and discusses whether and how police-community relations have changed since 1992.

Anna Deavere Smith discusses “Let Me Down Easy,” her one-woman show examines the miracle of human resilience through the lens of the national debate on health care. She interviewed 300 people on three continents, and she inhabits characters from a rodeo bull rider to a prize fighter to a New Orleans doctor during Hurricane Katrina, as well as former Texas Governor Ann Richards, cyclist Lance Armstrong, film critic Joel Siegel, and supermodel Lauren Hutton. “Let Me Down Easy” premieres on PBS January 13, at 9 pm.

Playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith was on the Lopate Show recently to discuss bringing her one-woman show, "Let Me Down Easy," to PBS's Great Performances. She also revealed what she's been listening to and what her (very healthy) comfort food is!

Watch an excerpt from Let Me Down Easy:

The Takeaway's Farai Chideya speaks to Anna Deavere Smith about "The Value."

Today we present the first installment in a new multimedia series called “The Value,” hosted by our correspondent Farai Chideya. The series explores what we — as individuals and as a society — place value on.

Farai sat down with Anna Deavere Smith, who is an award-winning playwright, actress and professor famous for her “documentary theatre.” Her newest, play, “Let Me Down Easy,” focuses on the issue of our nation’s health care and is now playing at New York's Second Stage Theater.

Watch an excerpt from Let Me Down Easy:

Forbes is set to release their list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. In honor of the women who will appear on that list, we put together our own roundtable to discuss what it means to be a powerful woman today, as well as who they think should be topping the list. Sarah Palin? Tina Fey? Angela Merkel? Oprah?

Our guests: Anna Deavere Smith, the Tony Award nominated actress, playwright and current Artist-in-Residence at the Center for American Progress; Faye Wattleton, former president for Planned Parenthood and current president of the Center for the Advancement of Women; and Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center.

Anna Deavere Smith is best known for playing the national security advisor on The West Wing but she’s also a theater pioneer –- writing and performing plays based on hundreds of interviews with real people. On stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival, ...

Anna Deavere Smith is a playwright and professor. She also plays the national security advisor on the NBC’s The West Wing. In 1996 she interviewed Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and others who were shaping the election; and then she performed selections of those interviews verbatim, exactly as she ...

Anna Deavere Smith is a playwright and professor. She also plays the national security advisor on the NBC's The West Wing. In 1996 she interviewed Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and others who were shaping the election; and then she performed selections of those interviews verbatim, exactly as she ...