Leslie “Ezra” Smith is a professional spoken word artist, actor, director, event coordinator and host. He was awarded the Poet of the Year award in 2010 by the Pgh. Hip Hop Awards. In 2008, he won the best lead actor award by The African American Council of the Arts for his performance in New Horizon Theater’s production of “Freeman”. Mr. Smith was a member of the 2003 Pittsburgh Steel City Slam Team and competed in the National Poetry Slam. Between 2002-2011, he was one of the hosts of Release Open Mic Series at The Shadow Lounge and Kinetix Poetry in Motion Open Mic Series at the New Hazlett Theater and the Outspoken Speaker Series at Sandidge Photography Studio. He’s the host of the Eargasm Open Mic Series at The Hill House Kaufmann Center. In 2010, Meeting of the Minds Publications published his first book of poetry entitled, “Journey of a Teardrop” in 2010. His first full length solo show, “The Book of Ezra” was recently produced at The Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company as the opening show for it’s 2014-2015 season. Ezra provides acting and spoken word performance coaching. For booking or coaching services, he can be reached at [email protected].
