Anna Deavere Smith's 'Basil Biggs' Premieres in Philadelphia
This month, Anna Deavere Smith's latest play, 'Basil Biggs,' debuts at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, created for the 250th anniversary of the United States. Unlike her usual documentary theater approach, this piece is inspired by her great-great-grandfather, Basil Biggs, who was illiterate and left no written documentation. A free Black man, Biggs reinterred Union soldiers at Gettysburg and prepared the site for Lincoln's famous address, while also engaging in Underground Railroad efforts. Smith discovered his story in 2014 on PBS's 'Finding Your Roots' with Henry Louis Gates Jr. The production features a full cast rather than Smith alone. Known for her works like 'Fires in the Mirror,' she visited Biggs's Gettysburg farm, which bore the marks of its past as a Confederate hospital.
Key facts
- Anna Deavere Smith's play 'Basil Biggs' premieres at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.
- The play is commissioned for the nation's 250th anniversary.
- Basil Biggs was Smith's great-great-grandfather, a free Black man.
- Biggs reburied Union dead at Gettysburg and prepared the ground for Lincoln's address.
- Biggs was illiterate, forcing Smith to depart from her documentary theater style.
- Smith learned of Biggs in 2014 on PBS's 'Finding Your Roots' with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Biggs's farm was used as a Confederate hospital; bloodstains remain on the floor.
- Biggs organized Black men to disinter and rebury Union soldiers.
- Biggs helped create a separate cemetery for Black Union soldiers via the Sons of Goodwill.
- The play features a cast of actors, not Smith performing solo.
Entities
Artists
- Anna Deavere Smith
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Basil Biggs
- Mary Jackson Biggs
- Celia Biggs Penn
- Brent Williams
- Denise Dodson
- Leticia de Santiago
- Julia
- Ed Bullins
- Ralph Horwitz
- Patricia Williams
- Kathy Sachs
Institutions
- Wilma Theater
- PBS
- NPR
- Fresh Air
- Yale School of Medicine
- American Conservatory Theater
- Grass Roots Theatre Company
- Blue Cross of Idaho
- Maryland Correctional Institute for Women
- Sons of Goodwill
- JCPenney
Locations
- Philadelphia
- Pennsylvania
- Gettysburg
- Baltimore
- New York
- Crown Heights
- Brooklyn
- Los Angeles
- Stockton
- California
- Idaho
- South Africa
- Rwanda
- Chambersburg
- Lincoln Tunnel
- Leonard Street