phxated_andrewsNationally acclaimed actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith wrote an op-ed for the NYT entitled “One Border, Many Sides” a few days ago. It consists of a number of monologues about the border by notable and sundry AZ folk—Sheriff Joe, Phil Gordon, a border crosser, a member of the Minutemen, among others.

ADSIn her intro Smith recounts:

Two years ago, before the last presidential election, I interviewed people living and working in Phoenix and at the Arizona-Mexico border, and much of what I heard then echoes strongly in the debate over the Arizona law. Even then, as I sat at office desks, or in living rooms, or outside at picnic tables, the words were dramatic. The impassioned, rhythmic cadences suggested a social movement. I suspect the speakers were rehearsing the language that we are now hearing nationally.

Now maybe I’m way off-base, but I too suspect the language has been rehearsed. “The Arizona Project” was commisioned by F.A.R @ASU two years ago.Their website described the one-woman play:

“Award-winning playwright and performer Anna Deavere Smith…presents several interwoven monologues in this one-woman performance, drawing verbatim from a series of interviews she conducted over the course of three weeks in 2008…The Arizona Project presents the stories of Justice O’Connor, as well as those of more than 30 women with relationships to the American judicial system, including prison system employees, incarcerated women, female lawyers, activists and others.”

No mention of this on her NYT piece, which, consisting of mostly male voices, is a sort of bookend to the Arizona performance. Guess ASU didn’t have the rights to the out-takes.