Anna Deavere Smith, a 1971 Beaver College (Arcadia University) graduate and an award-winning playwright/actress, will soon launch a new play titled “Black Girls and Guns”.

From the play’s description:

Inspired by the United States’ 250th anniversary, Smith’s research into pre-20th-century Pennsylvania history, along with personal stories collected through interviews, centers around her family’s northern migration from the South and their lives during the Civil War. 

First Person Arts will support the development of the play through a substantial grant on behalf of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. The Center announced today that it has awarded $10.2 million to 39 Philadelphia-area cultural organizations and artists, including $3.5 million to help ensure the future of several of the most prominent institutions in the city and $1 million in unrestricted fellowships to 12 local artists.

Smith is known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in The West Wing, hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, and as U.S. District Court Clerk Tina Krissman on the ABC show For the People.

Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror, which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was also nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight: one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.

For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.