Anna Deavere Smith will visit Ohio State on April 20

Anna Deavere Smith, who is a playwright, actor and professor, will be the featured guest in the First Year Experience’s Distinguished Speaker Series at 4 p.m. on Wednesday (4/20) at Weigel Hall Auditorium, 1866 College Road.

Sponsored each spring by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience, the speaker series was developed to give first-year students the opportunity to interact with opinion leaders. U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo are past speakers.

A limited number of free tickets are available to the university community and the general public in room 120 Enarson Hall, 154 W. 12th Ave.

Smith has held numerous acting roles on television, including “The West Wing” and “Presidio Med,” and in movies, including “Philadelphia,” “The American President” and “The Human Stain.” As a playwright, Smith was hailed by Newsweek in 1993 as “the most exciting individual in American theater” for her work exploring the American character and multifaceted national identity. She earned an Obie award and the runner-up nomination for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for her play, “Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities.”

For more information about Smith or the series, see http://fye.osu.edu/speaker.html

WHAT: Actor and Playwright Anna Deavere Smith will be the featured guest in the First Year Experience’s Distinguished Speaker Series

WHEN: 4 p.m. on Wednesday (4/20)

WHERE: Weigel Hall Auditorium, 1866 College Road.

WHY: The Distinguished Speaker Series was developed to give first-year students the opportunity to interact with opinion leaders.