Actress and Playwright Anna Deavere Smith She's best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 about the Rodney King verdict, and Fires in the Mirror about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show House Arrest took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deavere Smith has also written a new memoir, Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines (Random House).

Actress and Playwright Anna Deavere Smith

November 6, 20002:24 PM ET

Heard on Fresh Air

Actress and Playwright Anna Deavere Smith

Audio will be available later today.

She's best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 about the Rodney King verdict, and Fires in the Mirror about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show House Arrest took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deavere Smith has also written a new memoir, Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines (Random House).