Broadway actress Barbara Bates Smith will perform the role of Ivy Rowe from the Lee Smith novel Fair and Tender Ladies on Sunday, May 16, at the Tryon Fine Arts Center at 3 p.m. The performance is sponsored by the Lanier Library and admission is free. There will be a reception for Smith at the Lanier Library following the performance.

Smith has performed numerous literary adaptations, several by the novelist Lee Smith including On Agate Hill and Christmas Letters. She has also appeared in theatrical productions of Driving Miss Daisy, Doubt, Hamlet, Three Tall Woman and Sister Mary Ignatius. She was in the world premiere of Horton Footes Talking Pictures and was named the 2003 Southeastern Theater Conferences Best Actress for her role in Talking Pictures.

She has performed Ivy Rowe on numerous stages including New York, Provincetown, Rhode Island, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In her performance she is accompanied by Jeff Sebins on numerous hand-made stringed instruments.

In addition to her acting career, Smith is a playwright, musician and educator. She founded the Taproot Theater Touring Ensemble in Lakeland, Fl., was the Playwright in Residence at the Harrison Performing Arts High School in Lakeland, Fl., and at the University of Texas in Austin. She also performs in sign language for the deaf. She and her husband Russell now reside in the mountains near Clyde, N.C.

This performance is made possible by a grant from the Kirby Endowment Fund and the Polk County Community Foundation.