Basil Biggs

In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, eminent playwright, actor and professor, Anna Deavere Smith has written an original play for ArtPhilly’s What Now: 2026 Festival. The Basil Biggs workshop production traces the life of Smith’s great, great, grandfather, a farmer, veterinarian and prominent Gettysburg figure. Biggs received a contract to disinter and rebury the Union dead following the battle of Gettysburg - the bloodiest of the Civil War. Though a prominent figure in his community, it appears that Biggs did not read or write. Smith uses available archival material to imagine how the Biggs family and their friends met the challenges of a tumultuous and transformative time. Directed by Leonard Foglia, and in collaboration with designer Ann Hould-Ward, The Basil Biggs workshop production is emblematic of Smith’s longstanding mission, which is to integrate historical fact and artistic imagination to weave individual stories into cohesive reflections which celebrate American resilience and inspire discussion. Biggs is produced by Bruce Cohen in conjunction with theater artists LaNeshe Miller-White and Zuhairah McGill and historian Andrew Dalton, President & CEO of Gettysburg History.

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The Basil Biggs workshop production has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.