The Takeaway's Farai Chideya speaks to Anna Deavere Smith about "The Value."

Today we present the first installment in a new multimedia series called “The Value,” hosted by our correspondent Farai Chideya. The series explores what we — as individuals and as a society — place value on.

Farai sat down with Anna Deavere Smith, who is an award-winning playwright, actress and professor famous for her “documentary theatre.” Her newest, play, “Let Me Down Easy,” focuses on the issue of our nation’s health care and is now playing at New York's Second Stage Theater.

Forbes is set to release their list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. In honor of the women who will appear on that list, we put together our own roundtable to discuss what it means to be a powerful woman today, as well as who they think should be topping the list. Sarah Palin? Tina Fey? Angela Merkel? Oprah?

Our guests: Anna Deavere Smith, the Tony Award nominated actress, playwright and current Artist-in-Residence at the Center for American Progress; Faye Wattleton, former president for Planned Parenthood and current president of the Center for the Advancement of Women; and Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center.