Anna Deavere Smith's Public-Interest Theatre
Anna Deavere Smith has carved out a singular niche straddling performance art, academia, and public-interest journalism. Her documentary solo works, in which she plays a panoply of interview subjects, have covered topics from the Crown Heights riots to the frailties of the human body. In her latest, "Notes from the Field," beginning previews Oct. 15 at Second Stage, Smith (above, in costume) draws on more than two hu…