Anna Deavere Smith Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva

As has been her practice for over twenty years in previous one-woman shows (among them, Pulitzer Prize finalist Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles, and Let Me Down Easy), Smith is the creator, writer and performer of Notes From the Field, based on hundreds of interviews she conducted around the country with former inmates, parents, students, activists, educators and politicians. Disturbed by the phenomenon of the so-called school-to-prison pipeline, referring to overly punitive and racially discriminatory school disciplinary practices that deposit children into the juvenile and criminal justice system, Smith put on her journalist's hat to find the stories of the affected and the afflicted and bring them into the spotlight. Smith as actor then becomes the voice of the people, channeling the personae of about a dozen and a half real-life characters with a stunning range of mannerisms, tone and emotions.

Augmented by massive video projections on an upstage screen, and bluesy, resonant notes plunked out by Marcus Shelby on the bass fiddle, Smith is relentless in getting her points across. Images of Freddie Gray being dragged into the back of a police van in Baltimore, a 14-year-old African-American girl in a bathing suit being wrestled to the ground by a white officer, and a white school officer in Columbia, South Carolina, yanking an African-American high school girl ("The Shakara Story") out of her seat and across the floor are particularly disturbing. It must be incredibly difficult for Smith to narrow the selections for inclusion in the final product, but each is compelling on its own merits. In the aggregate, the effect is a sustained emotional and intellectual pounding that is overwhelming and discomfiting, as it should be.

Having the opportunity to share thoughts and feelings from act one, even in a group of strangers, is cathartic. Without reporting or attributing any specific comments, the consensus in our group seemed to be that times have changed, that people of color are used to being treated differently or poorly, and we all need to consider our personal responsibility to act, not merely observe. After releasing some of the emotional steam, it was refreshing to experience the voices and viewpoints presented in the coda as they were somewhat more encouraging and hopeful that the darkness leading up to this moment may provide the spark of a new civil rights movement.

Kudos to Anna Deavere Smith for starting the conversation that we never seem to have about race in America. However, it is just one of many conversations that have been neglected and must be initiated or continued if any substantial change is to occur. Perhaps one of the most telling comments in the play is spoken by an articulate former prison inmate in Baltimore, Smith's hometown. He said, "We can't wait for the leaders to make it better. We have to make it better." Powerful and profound, like the rest of Notes From the Field. Do not miss it.

Notes From the Field: Doing Time in Education, performances through September 17, 2016 at American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA; Box Office 617-547-8300 or www.americanrepertorytheater.org.

Created, Written, & Performed by Anna Deavere Smith, Music Composed & Performed by Marcus Shelby, Directed by Leonard Foglia; Set Design, Riccardo Hernandez; Costume Design, Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting Design, Howell Binkley; Sound Design, Dan Moses Schreier; Projection Design, Elaine McCarthy; Dialect Coach, Amy Stoller; Movement Coach, Michael Leon Thomas; Dramaturg, Alisa Solomon; Production Stage Manager, Taylor Brennan