Coming soon to a screen near you: “Let Me Down Easy”

RAAC Community Theatre’s first-ever video production will be available for online viewing the last weekend in May and the first weekend in June. Eagerly awaited by the Theatre’s devoted audience, the play is being offered as a gift to the community.

“Let Me Down Easy,” written by the noted playwright and actor, Anna Deavere Smith, is one of a series of plays called “verbatim theatre” which she wrote and first performed as oneperson shows. The RAAC production features actors Mike Mahoney, Stephanie Mastri, Andy Platt and Erin Platt, and was produced by the same crew that produced “The Gin Game,” “Arcadia,” and, most recently, the highly acclaimed “Waiting for Godot.”

The play consists of 20 scenes Smith developed from extensive interviews. Some are based on familiar personalities like Lance Armstrong, Lauren Hutton and Ann Richards, while others are based on lesser known but equally compelling figures like health care providers, a rodeo bull rider, an ex-heavyweight boxing champion, a Tibetan monk and the playwright’s own aunt. In every scene, the words are those of the interviewee, not Smith.

Her craft — or art — is in providing a unique insight into an idea or person or both.

Twenty scenes, 20 people not directly related or connected to one another. Each vignette deals with some aspect of health care — a subject particularly apropos these days. Some scenes are guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes. Others are positively hilarious. And the entirety of them all, brought to life as they are by the actors, makes for a rewarding show.

RAAC is offering “Let Me Down Easy” as a free event, though donations will be most welcome. Keep a watchful eye on the RAAC web site (RAAC.org) and this newspaper for details.