Directed by Eric Ting, the limited engagement will run through Oct. 11 on the Loeb Stage. Part of Deavere Smith's ongoing series On the Road: A Search for American Character, Let Me Down Easy is described in press notes as "a journey in search of human qualities that are too seldom in the news – compassion, generosity, and grace in the face of a complex world."

In her new work Deavere Smith asks the question, "How do we pursue grace and kindness in a competitive and sometimes distressing world?" The playwright spoke with survivors of the Rwanda genocide, victims of Hurricane Katrina and patients and doctors at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She also interviewed musicians, athletes, journalists, philosophers, health care professionals and religious leaders. Those interviews became the source material for Let Me Down Easy.

The production features musical elements composed by Joshua Redman, sets by David Rockwell, costumes by Anne Hould-Ward and projections by Jan Hartley.

Tickets, priced $15-$79, are available by visiting www.amrep.org or by calling (617) 547-8300.