Public Forum: Talking About Race

Leading artists and academics take the stage for a conversation about race in 2014 in response to two seminal conversations from history. Directed by Anna Deavere Smith in her classic “documentary theater” style, four actors will perform excerpts of Mike Wallace’s 1959 interview with Lorraine Hansberry, as well as from Margaret Mead’s legendary 1971 conversation with James Baldwin. Featuring David Aaron Baker (Mike Wallace), Meg Gibson (Margaret Mead), Brian Tyree Henry (James Baldwin), and Katherine Ella Wood (Lorraine Hansberry).

Friday, May 30
The Hansberry/Wallace and Baldwin/Mead conversations will be followed by a provocative discussion between Anna Deavere Smith and author and experimental psychologist Steven Pinker about race and language in 2014.

Saturday, May 31

The Hansberry/Wallace and Baldwin/Mead conversations will be followed by a discussion that views race through the lens of contemporary science, featuring Dr. Victor Carrion of Stanford University, Dr. Rob DeSalle of the American Museum of Natural History, and Dr. Evelynn Hammonds of Harvard University.

Public Forum, now in its fourth year, presents the theater of ideas. It carries on Joe Papp’s mission of connecting the work of The Public Theater with the issues that face society at large. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, this series of conversations and performances features leading voices in politics, media, and the arts.