Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Written by	Anna Deavere Smith
Setting	Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a one-woman play written and originally performed by American actress, playwright and professor Anna Deavere Smith about the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The original Broadway production opened at the Cort Theatre in New York City on April 17, 1994 and ran for 72 performances. The play is composed of a series of monologues by real people connected directly and indirectly to the riots; the text of the monologues is taken verbatim from interviews that Smith had conducted with them. The subjects/characters of the play include public officials like LAPD chief Daryl Gates and congresswoman Maxine Waters; a nameless juror on the Rodney King police trial, whose verdict directly led to the riots; various victims and instigators of violence, including, most famously, truck driver Reginald Denny, and residents of Los Angeles with their own view of the events, including singer Jessye Norman and actor Charlton Heston.

Twilight is a direct successor to Smith's previous play, Fires in the Mirror (1992), which, like Twilight, was a one-woman play with monologues based on interview transcripts, covering another recent riot largely based on African-American grievances, the Crown Heights riot of 1991. Both plays are considered trailblazers in a genre that has become known as verbatim theatre.

Awards and nominations

Twilight was nominated for the 1994 Tony Award for Best Play, losing to Angels in America: Perestroika; and Smith was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, losing to Diana Rigg in Medea.

Film

Smith recreated her role in a filmed production in 2000 directed by Marc Levin.

External links

• Stage on Screen: Twilight: Los Angeles, PBS