AwardsAnna Deavere Smith Receives 2022 Louis Auchincloss Prize November 14
The Museum of the City of New York presents the award to the Twilight: Los Angeles playwright and actor.
By
Leah Putnam
November 14, 2022
Anna Deavere Smith
The Museum of the City of New York presents Tony nominee Anna Deavere Smith (Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles) with its 2022 Louis Auchincloss Prize November 14 at 6 PM. Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art, will present the award at the evening cocktail reception, which also features a conversation with Bloomberg Philanthropies' Arts Program Lead Kate D. Levin.
The prize is "awarded to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City." Named for novelist Louis Auchincloss who served as president and chairman for the Museum of the City of New York, past honorees include Faith Ringgold, Robert Stern, Jason Robert Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, Gloria Steinem, Michiko Kakutani, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Toshiko Mori, and Philip Glass.
Smith is known for focusing on contemporary issues in her work, expressing multiple points-of-view crafted from excerpts from the hundreds of interviews Smith conducts for each play. Alongside her theatrical work, Smith has performed onscreen in Philadelphia, The West Wing, The American President, Rachel Getting Married, Black-ish,and Inventing Anna.
"New York is my home and the fertile ground in which the seeds of many of my creative projects have been grown,” says Smith.
Her work in the arts was recognized by President Obama who awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal and she was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her work Fires in the Mirror.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success.
