Good Lit at the Geary - Commonwealth Club

The Commonwealth Club and American Conservatory Theater Present
Two of San Francisco's premier cultural institutions proudly present a series of events showcasing several of the country's preeminent writers, actors and artists.

ELMORE LEONARD
Famed Crime Writer
Monday June 7, 2004

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Long regarded as America's greatest crime writer, Leonard has written more than three dozen books. Many of his novels have been made into movies, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight. He is the recipient of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Leonard's forthcoming children's book, A Coyote's in the House, reveals the inner life of canines wild and domesticated in a fresh, funny tale for the young and the young at heart.

JANE SMILEY
Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
Monday May 24, 2004

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Celebrated novelist Jane Smiley is the author of ten works of fiction, including The Age of Grief, which was recently made into the popular Alan Rudolph movie The Secret Lives of Dentists, and A Thousand Acres, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. A Thousand Acres was also adapted for the screen in 1997 and starred Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer. A prolific and versatile essayist, Smiley has written for Vogue, The New Yorker, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, Mirabella, Allure, and The Nation, on everything from politics to farming, horse training and Barbie. Her latest novel is Good Faith.

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
Actress and Playwright
Monday April 19, 2004

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Best known for her current role as National Security Advisor Nancy McNally on the NBC hit "The West Wing," as well as for her appearances in the films Philadelphia, Dave and The Human Stain, Anna Deavere Smith has been hailed by Newsweek as "the most exciting individual in American theater." The author and performer of ground-breaking one-woman plays about racial tensions in American cities (Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 and House Arrest), Smith was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowship for creating "a new form of theater – a blend of theatrical art, social commentary, journalism, and intimate reverie." Smith is a graduate of the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program.

Good Lit at the Geary matches the literary lights of The Commonwealth Club with the sizzle of the Geary stage.

For more than a century The Commonwealth Club has illuminated important ideas from culture to politics to science bringing Californians face-to-face with leading figures in their field. The Club also helped to put the California literary scene on the map.

In over three decades of dazzling audiences with its productions, A.C.T. has reached some seven million people.

Now with the marriage of the Commonwealth Club and A.C.T. for Good Lit at the Geary, look for fireworks onstage. Each program will feature a wide-ranging conversation between the artist and Club Literary Director Barbara Lane and include an audience question & answer session.

If you're a fan of literature and the arts, and you want to engage with San Francisco's cultural scene, Good Lit at the Geary is simply a must-see.