Playwright, actor and professor Anna Deavere Smith uses her unique brand of theatre to highlight issues of community, character and diversity in America. Smith has been listening to people across the country from all walks of life for the last several years and using those conversations as inspiration with the goal of bringing "people across the chasms." During the course of her presentation Smith performs portrayals of people she has interviewed, recreating a diversity of emotions and points of view on controversial issues. Smith was the 2012 National Humanities Medal winner and was recently selected to deliver the 2015 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.