One of the 20th century’s greatest writers, James Baldwin was a playwright, essayist, and novelist. With piercing observations on racial, sexual, and social issues in American culture, he became a voice of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author. In an era when anyone with a computer connection can broadcast their own life story for everyone or no one to consider, Anna Deavere Smith continues to shock and dazzle audiences with her stage portraits of the humble and the great. A hybrid artist if ever there was one, she collects stories through recorded interviews and then personally portrays the tellers on stage, in curated displays of American character organized around pressing questions of our time.

Lynn Nottage is an original voice in American theater, a playwright whose entertaining and thought-provoking works address contemporary issues with empathy and humor. Her work covers a wide range of subjects but is always on the side of the marginalized and dispossessed. She is the only woman to have won the Pulitzer for drama twice.