Actress Mixes Art & Religion for Performance at Grace Cathedral

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Reyhan Harmanci

CALIFORNIA - Last Sunday, worshipers at the 11 a.m. service at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco heard something unusual: a sermon delivered by Anna Deavere Smith, the award-winning actress and playwright.  Anna Deavere Smith at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. Ms. Smith is now working on a play about the meanings of grace. It was the first homily for Ms. Smith, 61, who is also the first artist-in-residence at this Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill. She is working on a play, to be performed at the cathedral on Feb. 17 and 18, that will explore the meanings of grace. Calling religion “an extraordinary act of imagination,” she likened the experience of working on a stage production to the rituals in a church. [link]