Download Twilight: Los Angeles

Twilight: Los Angeles
Madison & Rachel
Conversation Starters
What was your initial response to reading the script?
What potential design opportunities do you see in this production?
Why do you suppose the words in the script are structured as they are?
Why does she leave in the mistakes?
What would the audience response be if we staged Twilight Los Angeles,
1992 today?
Overview
In the spring of 1991, Rodney King, a black man, was severely beaten by four white Los
Angeles police officers after being pulled over for speeding. After footage of the
beating was released, and the four police officers were tried; one was found guilty of
excessive force and the remaining three were cleared of all charges. Riots, fires and
violence broke out in Los Angeles for the next three days. Anna Deavere Smith tells
the story of these riots through a series of monologues based on interviews she
conducted with individuals involved in the riots. She performed it as a one-woman
performance piece, taking on the role of each character that she interviewed.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/twilight-los-angeles-full-episode/3972/
Anna Deavere Smith
● Born on September 18, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland.
● On the Road: A Search for American Character
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Testimonial Theatre
Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities (1992)
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House Arrest (2000)
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Crown Heights Riots 1991
The US Presidency
Let Me Down Easy (2008)
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The human body
Historical Timeline
March 3, 1991 - Rodney King, black, is brutally beaten on camera by four police officers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb1WywIpUtY
March 16, 1991 - Latasha Harlins, a black 14 year old girl, is shot on camera by a Korean store owner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuIY2I-kyKM
April 29, 1992 - Police officers acquitted for King beating, riots break out.
Same day - Reginald Oliver Denny, white, beaten on live on tv by four black men. Also rescued by two black
men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMP6bXnXdZM
Riots last three days.
Production History
Originally produced by Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, LA. Premiered
May 23, 1993 and closed July 18, 1993. (Smith, 2)
Cort Theatre, Broadway, New York City, New York. Opened April 17, 1994 and
closed June 19, 1994. (Playbill)
Berkeley Repertory Theater in Berkeley, California on January 31, 1996. It was
performed by Anna Deavere Smith. (Smith, 2)
Katselas Theatre Company at Skylight Theatre Company, Los Angeles, California.
Workshop. Opened April 20, 2012 and ended April 29, 2012. (Skylight Theatre)
The Other Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois. Opened January 23, 2015 and
closed February 22, 2015. (The Other Theatre Company)
Audience Response
NYTimes says, “Anna Deavere Smith is the ultimate impressionist: she does people's souls. She is so good at
the task that to describe "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" as a one-woman show is patently ridiculous… Ms.
Smith brings her penetrating eye and a voracious need to know what lurks in the depths of the human
heart. Her subject may be daunting, but the scale of her investigation isn't. One person at a time, one idea
at a time, one temperament at a time, she builds up a rich, panoramic canvas of a national trauma.”
(Richards)
With “Twilight: Los Angeles,1992,” Anna Deavere Smith confirms her status as a premier force in American
theater. “Twilight” is lightning striking twice, a brilliant follow-up to Smith’s acclaimed “Fires in the
Mirror.” (Evans)
"The power behind Jason Gerace's stunning production comes across as one undeniable voice, one that needs
to be heard by everyone." -Chicago Theatre Review (The Other Theatre Co.)
"From every angle, Gerace orchestrates honest storytelling from his sublime cast." -The Fourth Walsh (The
Other Theatre Co.)
Audience Response
"This is a must see show for people haunted by the fact that we live in a “morally tone-deaf society” and for lovers
of good theater alike. And despite all the grimness and ache, there is a glimmer of hope: The Other Theater
Company is now here to challenge us with the questions that refuse to go away." -Chicago Stage Standard
(The Other Theatre Co.)
"The six-woman cast does what you might call a bang-up job under Jason Gerace's direction." -Chicago Reader
(The Other Theatre Co.)
"We need theater like this. This is the play to see if your fire is subsiding over the police shootings, the acquittals.
What The Other Theater Co. has achieved here is more than poignant, it’s vital. A must see, not just for the
excellent work put in, but for the passion and fervor it ignites within you." -The Hawk Chicago (The Other
Theatre Co.)
Textual Analysis
Thought - Corrupt criminal justice system, racial tensions, etc.
Character - Those on the margins
Diction - language of the real people
The videos - real events
Song - “Music and sound effects are useful and important for flow. Rap and hip hop
music were an important part of the youth culture at the time. Music and sound
effects are not included in this printed text, but there is a lot of room for the
director to make decisions about how to use both. In all productions of the play
performed by the author, original music was composed. (Smith 5)”
Glossary
Documentary/Verbatim Theatre - Documentary theatre is “fact-based performance
composed using archival materials such as trial transcripts, official or government
documents, iconic visual images or video footage, newspaper reporting, historical
writing and recorded interviews. (Odendahl-James, 852)” Verbatim theatre is “A
type of theatre-making where the text is generated from interviews with 'real life'
people. (National Theatre)”
Tribalism (7) - The behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one's
own tribe or social group (Merriam-Webster).
Uncle Tom (44) - a black person who is eager to win the approval of white people
and willing to cooperate with them (Merriam-Webster Inc.).
Glossary
“Zootsuiter” (30), The Zoot Suit Riots 1943- Spurred by the conviction of nine MexicanAmerican men for the murder of Jose Gollardo Diaz, with the Japanese-Americans in
internment camps, racial tensions shifted to Mexican-Americans. In the summer of 1943,
white United States sailors and marines attacked Mexican youths, identified by their choice
of Zoot Suit, for being unpatriotic (Novas 98).
●
Acquittal (51) - A judgment that a person is not
guilty of the crime with which the person has
been charged (Merriam-Webster).
●
Subpoena (50) - a writ ordering a person to
attend court (Merriam-Webster).
Comparisons
Brechtian Placards
This play is about a real event, using the words of real people. The audience should be
made aware of that. Slide should be used, if possible to announce each character and to
inform the audience that the words in the play are verbatim from interviews. A slide
with the following language should begin the show, just after lights down and before
any other visual image: “This play is based on the interviews conducted by Anna
Deavere Smith soon after the race riots in LA of 1992. All words were spoken by real
people and are verbatim from those interviews” (Smith 4).
“Explanatory subtitles are regularly flashed on the proscenium. And on a screen behind
Ms. Smith, a dazzling swirl of projections and videotape, including that of the King and
Denny beatings, periodically explodes to the wail of sirens and the hollow rat-a-tat-tat
of machine-gun fire. (Richards)”
Comparisons
Brecht - Body separate from character
On page 8 of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 it clearly states that if this show is done with
more than one actor, “Matching identities only becomes significant in the dinner party
scene towards the end of the play, and sometimes to make a particular point, but each
director will have an idea about this, as may the company of actors… In creating the
cast, build the company around those characters/actors, and then move outward from
that to cross-gender, cross-racial, cross-age casting… In the end, vocal, physical and
verbal ability should prevail in casting decisions. Some of these characters require a lot
of sheer vocal imagination and energy.”
“If a character is identified as “black,” it is not the author’s intention that a black person
play the role. If a character is identified as a “woman,” it is not the author’s intention
that a woman necessarily play the role. It is possible to put together a company in
which, at time, an actor plays his or her appropriate “type,” but at other times, and
Comparisons
Brechtian and the unification of vision. Each element contributes to the message.
“The play is performed in bare feet, except when shoes are meant to make a specific
statement… Costumes, stage sets and props can be minimal or as ornate as one
imagines. In all productions performed by the author, who performed it as a 0newoman show, costumes were limited to pieces used for each characters...Costumes
should be seen as an extension of race relations and the degree to which we make
assumptions about others based on first visual impression they make” (Smith 5).
Feminist Theatre - Many scenes are linked by idea rather than chronological order.
Not very realistic - A latina woman playing every person, non linear plot structure,
episodic.
Contemporary Resonance
Mike Brown
Trayvon Martin
Eric Garner
Tamir Rice
Sandra Bland
Black Lives Matter
Ferguson, MO
Corrupt justice system
Dramaturgical Note
In the spring of 1991, Latasha Harlins, a black 14 year old girl, was shot on camera by a Korean shop owner.
The woman was sentenced to pay $500 in funeral restitutions. Thirteen days before that, Rodney King, a
black man, was severely beaten by four white Los Angeles police officers after being pulled over for
speeding. After footage of the beating was released, and the four police officers were tried. Almost a year
after the beating, one was found guilty of excessive force and the remaining three were cleared of all
charges. Riots, fires and violence broke out in Los Angeles for the next three days. A man named Reginald
Denny was taken out of his semi and beaten by four black men live on national news, but luckily was
saved by two black men who happened to have been watching the news. Overall, estimated property
damage was over a billion dollars. The rioting ended after members of the California Army National
Guard were called in to stop the rioting when the local police could not control the situation. In total, 55
people were killed during the riots and over 2,000 people were injured. As a result of the riots, an inquiry
was initiated, and LAPD chief of police Daryl Gates was forced to resign his position.
Dramaturgical Note
In Ferguson, MO, in August of 2014, Michael Brown, a black 18 year old about to begin college, was fatally
shot while unarmed by a white police officer. This, in combination with a number of other injustices
imposed on Black Americans by the American criminal justice system, led to protests on the streets of
Ferguson. While peaceful in nature, the protesters were met by military force. Ultimately, the court
decided not to indict the officer.
The Black Lives Matter movement that stemmed from these and similar events nationwide is the effort of
Black Americans to demand that their lives be held to the same value and treatment as white bodies in
America. In 2015, a black man was nine times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a white man.
Out of the 1,134 unarmed Americans killed at the hands of the police in 2015, 15% of them were black
males, when they only compose 2% of the population (Swaine).
Dramaturgical Suggestions
The three videos of the events surrounding the 1992 Los Angeles riots should be played as indicated by the text, while
interspersed with videos from the last few years, including the recorded strangling of Eric Garner with an illegal chokehold
that prompted the popular Black Lives Matter mantra “I can’t breathe.” This decision in order to directly shove it in the
audience's faces that this in not just history we’re talking about.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2014/dec/04/i-cant-breathe-eric-garner-chokehold-death-video
While the specifics of costuming and characterization outlined in the script should be era specific to retain the spirit of the real
people being portrayed, the music choices should be contemporized. “Music and sound effects are useful and important for
flow. Rap and hip hop music were an important part of the youth culture at the time. Music and sound effects are not
included in this printed text, but there is a lot of room for the director to make decisions about how to use both” (Smith 5).
By bringing in music like “Blacker the Berry” by Kendrick Lamar and “Formation” by Beyonce, songs directed at black
audiences about the 2016 plight of Black Americans, we highlight how the largely forgotten black struggle in the 90s has
not got away, and possibly has even intensified.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/15/11004624/grammys-2016-watch-kendrick-lamar-perform-alright-the-blacker-theberry
Do not hire us for this job. We’re white. Have a good day.
Works Cited
Buck, Andy. "House Arrest." TheaterMania.com. N.p., 28 Mar. 2000. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.
<http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/03-2000/house-arrest_404.html>.
Evans, Greg. "Review: ‘Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992’." Variety. Variety Media, LLC, 25 Mar. 1994. Web. 23 Mar.
2016.
Merriam-Webster Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004. Print.
N/A "THE Many FACES Of ANNA DEAVERE SMITH." Humanities 36.2 (2015): 15-18. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
N/A. "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 @ Cort Theatre | Playbill." Playbill. Playbill Inc, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
National Theatre. "An Introduction to Verbatim Theatre." National Theatre. Royal National Theatre, 2016. Web.
23 Mar. 2016.
Novas, Himilce. Everything You Need to Know about Latino History. New York: Plume, 1994. Print.
Richards, David. "Review/Theater: Twilight -- Los Angeles, 1992; A One-Woman Riot Conjures Character Amid
the Chaos." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Mar. 1994. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Works
Cited
Odendahl-James, Jules. "American Appetites: A Documentary Reader." J. Am. Hist. Journal of American History
102.3 (2015): 852-53. Mikewileyproductions. Mike Wiley Productions, 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
The Other Theatre Co. "Twilight: LA, 1992." The Other Theatre Co. The Other Theatre Co., n.d. Web. 23 Mar.
2016
Richards, David. "Review/Theater: Twilight -- Los Angeles, 1992; A One-Woman Riot Conjures Character Amid
the Chaos." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Mar. 1994. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Skylight Theatre. "Twilight: LA 1992." LA 1992 (Underground Workshop 2012). Skylight Theatre Company,
2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
Smith, Anna Deavere, and Lani Guinier. Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the
Twentieth Century. Ed. Jo Bonney. New York, NY: Theatre Communication Group, 2000. 177-86. Print.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service, 2003. Print.
Swaine, Jon, Oliver Laughland, and James Lartey. "Young Black Men Killed by U.S. Police at Highest Rate in
Year of 1,134 Deaths." Alternet. N.p., 02 Jan. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. <http://www.alternet.org/civil-