2009 SPEAKERSMODERATORS

is a playwright, actress, and educator. Smith is said to have created a new form of theater. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations, a Drama Desk Award, the USA Artists Award, and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. Her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. She is founding director of Artists Without Boundaries, a center that convenes artists whose work addresses the world’s most pressing problems. Television and movie credits include “Nurse Jackie,” “The West Wing,” The American President, and others. Honorary degrees include those from Juilliard and Northwestern as well as a Radcliffe Medal. She is a professor at New York University.