Smart People asks whether our beliefs and prejudices are hard-wired into us. The quest for love, achievement and identity is universal, but what role does race play in the story of our lives? Four Harvard intellectuals – a neurobiologist, an actress, a doctor, and a psychologist, delve into the human brain’s response to race, class, friendship, the search for love, and identity in a complex world of social and sexual politics on the eve of Barack Obama’s first presidential election.

Diamond had this to say about her play, Smart People: “I have always spoken to my work being about the intersection of race and class and sexuality, but I always kind of back-ended into it,” Diamond said. “I started writing this play and I thought, you know what? This is about race. I’m not going to pretend it’s a play that’s just about how these people who just happen to be these different races bounce off each other and such is the landscape of America and blah blah blah. This is my ‘there it is’ kind of play.”

Second Stage Artistic Director Carole Rothman released the following statement regarding the upcoming 37^th season: “The writers behind our first two productions of next season embrace a unique and refreshing perspective on the American experience. And I know our audiences will embrace Smart People, the incredibly perceptive new play by Lydia Diamond, a writer I’ve been wanting to work with for years. And it is an honor to have Diane Paulus and Kenny Leon, two of the finest directors working in this country, joining us for the season.”

After its showing at Second Stage, Smart People will also be directed by Leon from July 12 – August 7, 2016 at the Southwest Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia as part of Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company.

Kenny Leon is a Tony Award winning Broadway and film director. His work on the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Best Revival, and August Wilson‘s Fences garnered ten Tony nominations and won three Tony Awards including Best Revival. Other Broadway credits include The Mountaintop starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, Stick Fly produced by Alicia Keys, the 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf, and Holler if You Hear Me, a musical created using the music of Tupac Shakur.

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