Playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith recently debuted a workshop production of her new play, "Basil Biggs," at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. The production, part of the citywide "What Now" arts festival, marks a shift for Smith, whose previous documentary theater works like "Fires in the Mirror" and "Twilight: Los Angeles" typically centered on interviews with living subjects regarding social issues and civil unrest.
The play dramatizes the life of Smith’s great-great-grandfather, Basil Biggs, a mixed-race veterinarian and Underground Railroad agent who lived in Maryland and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Smith began developing the project after learning about Biggs' documented history on the PBS program "Finding Your Roots," hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Because Biggs did not leave written records, Smith stated that she utilized historical archives and family photographs to reconstruct his identity and experiences as a freeman during the 19th century. The play explores his role in aiding fugitives from slavery and his personal stake in American history. Smith characterized the project as an effort to understand her own connection to the country through her ancestral lineage.