Read by: Anna Deavere Smith, Michael Cerveris, Olympia Dukakis, Eve Ensler, Bill T. Jones, Lisa Kron, Josh Hamilton and more. Hosted by ,Daryl Roth. Honorary Hosts Martin Sheen, Lily Tomlin, and Kerry Washington. Directed by Josh Hecht.

On Monday, September 25, WET will present a benefit performance honoring Anna Deavere Smith and risk taking artistry. Hosted by Daryl Roth. Honorary hosts are Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen, and Kerry Washington. The evening will feature an all-star lineup reading from Anna Deavere Smith's new book Letters To A Young Artist. Scheduled performers include Anna Deavere Smith, Michael Cerveris (Sweeney Todd, Tony Winner Assassins), Olympia Dukakis (Academy Award Winner Steel Magnolias), Eve Ensler (Creator of The Vagina Monologues, VDAY) Bill T. Jones (Choreographer Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company), Lisa Kron (Tony Nominee WELL), Josh Hamilton (Hurly Burly, Coast of Utopia) and more.

Letters To A Young Artist will be presented Monday, September 25 at 7:00pm with a reception to follow. The Daryl Roth Theatre is located at 101 East 15th Street. Tickets are $115 in advance (available at www.wetweb.org); $125 at the door. Price includes performance & reception with open bar, hors d'oeuvres, plus gift bags with a copy of the book, Letters To A Young Artist. Sponsored by JetBlue Airways, Dewars, Godiva, Boylan's Bottling Co, Korbel Champagne, Stella Artois, Rice Restaurants, Counter Restaurant, and Glaceau SmartWater. For more information call 212-682-0265. All proceeds benefit WET, a 501c3, non profit production company.

Created in 1999, WET produces media, which challenge female stereotypes and advocate for equality. WET adheres to this mission by producing plays by female playwrights, events celebrating female artists, and a citywide outreach program for teenage girls. Their theatrical productions include Big Times (directed by Leigh Silverman), Julia Jordan's St. Scarlet, Sheila Callaghan's Scab and I Stand Before You Naked II by Joyce Carol Oates. In 2004 WET launched a media literacy/self esteem building outreach program for adolescent girls called WET's Risk Taker's Film Series, with celebrity participants including Frances McDormand, Tracie Thoms, Michelle Rodriguez, Audra McDonald and Ally Sheedy. Proceeds from the benefit will be used to mount the World Premiere production of "BFF" by Anna Ziegler directed by Josh Hecht in February 2007 at The DR2 Theater, where WET is a Theater-in-Residence.

Anna Deavere Smith is an actor, a teacher, a playwright, and the creator of an acclaimed series of one-woman plays based on her interviews with diverse voices from communities in crisis. She has won two Obie Awards, two Tony nominations for her play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, and a MacArthur Fellowship. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Fires in the Mirror. She has had roles in the films Philadelphia, An American President, The Human Stain, and Rent, and she has worked in television on The Practice, Presidio Med, and The West Wing. The founder and director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, she teaches at New York University and lives in New York City.

Women's Expressive Theater, Inc

Women's Expressive Theater, Inc

More from Women's Expressive Theater, Inc