Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

by Anna Deavere Smith

Twilight is a stunning work of "documentary theater" that explores the devastating human impact of the five days of riots following the Rodney King verdict. From nine months of interviews with more than two hundred people, Smith has chosen the voices that best reflect the diversity and tension of a city in turmoil: a disabled Korean man, a white male Hollywood talent agent, a Panamanian immigrant mother, a teenage black gang member, a macho Mexican-American artist, Rodney King's aunt, beaten truck driver Reginald Denny, former Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates, and other witnesses, participants, and victims.

A work that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class, Twilight ruthlessly probes the language and the lives of its subjects, offering stark insight into the complex and pressing social, economic, and political issues that fueled the flames in the wake of the Rodney King verdict and ignited a conversation about policing and race that continues today.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Nonfiction, History, Theatre, School, Race

265 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress. Smith is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Nancy McNally in The West Wing and as Hospital Administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the richest prizes in the American arts with a remuneration of $300,000.

In 2009 Smith published her first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics. In 2006 she released another, Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind.

As a dramatist Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight: one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.

Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. In 2009 she won a Fellow Award in Theater Arts from United States Artists.

She has received honorary degrees from Spelman College, Arcadia University, Bates College, Smith College, Skidmore College, Macalester College, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Holy Cross College,[disambiguation needed] Haverford College, Wesleyan University, School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University, Colgate University, California State University Sacramento, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wheelock College, Williams College, and the Cooper Union.

The United Solo Theatre Festival board awarded her with uAward for outstanding solo performer during the inaugural edition in November 2010.

In 2013, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.

Reviews

[Sadie Hillier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely wish I could make this required reading for ... everyone. Everyone in America at least, especially fellow white people who cannot feel the pain and the tension that was prevalent in 1965, that was prevalent in 1992, that is still prevalent today in 2016. I finished reading this book around the same time news broke that a police officer had shot Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man whose car was having trouble. It's 2016 and somehow the fact that black people should not be murdered by police is still seen as a political opinion.

In Twilight, the people Anna interviews are repeatedly astounded by the fact that their situation is so similar to the Watts Riots nearly 3 decades before. Nearly 3 decades later, I am astounded that so little has changed. The stories in this book are raw and real, and so so important.

[Lilly Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t you just love when your professor lies to you and then you have to read a 300 page book in a day. Because I do, I love it so much…

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you lived though the King beating and its aftermath, including the Riots. You really need to read this. Smith conducted interviews with various people, and this is the stage production script of those interviews.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Los Angeles riots were an eye opening account of the racial and socioeconomic tensions that were occurring within the citizens of L.A. It was a mixture of different factors for a long time that was adding strain to already fragile tensions. After the verdict was announced for the Simi Valley trial all these tensions that people were internalizing finally exploded. Anna Deavere Smith’s play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 does a great job at giving a verbatim account of many individuals own opinions and experiences before, during, and after the Los Angeles riots.

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 gives readers an insight into people’s individual feelings and reactions towards the Los Angeles riots. Reading each individual monologue lends itself to a deeper understanding of how there was this kind of me vs. them mentality between minority groups, the wealthy, the poor, etc. This play shows the psychology of people and how they’re all struggling to make sense of the actions that happened during the Los Angeles riots. For most people in this book and to readers as well, the Los Angeles riots were a one of kind experience that truly showed or exposed them to the violent nature of humanity that many never experienced or even observed before. It’s interesting to see the remaining anger, depression, and shock that people held onto even after the riots occurred. Those feelings and this book lends itself to the deeper narrative of California literature that describe the struggles that many minority groups and people of a lower economic standing continually face. This book is not the only one in Californian literature that describes and portrays those struggles however it’s an important one that shouldn’t be ignored and should be examined closely because of how diverse these people are. This book leaves readers with the understanding of how people felt when the riots occurred and how they most likely still carry those feelings today. The book also makes a lot of points of how media can often skew images and reports and often worsen situations. In the book, Paula Weinstein states that she thought it was, "a media fest of making white people scared of the African-American community" (Smith, 211). There are several other accounts that make references towards the media feeling that they actually over exaggerated tensions. It's a very interesting perspective on how the media can influence people's feelings and actions.

This book has many strengths however I believe the biggest strength is how each monologue is a verbatim account of the interviews that Anna Deavere Smith conducted. Using the interviewee’s individual verbatim experiences of the Los Angeles riots gives the book and play this sense of realism that many news articles on the riots wouldn’t have been able to execute. Not only does it make itself seem more real, but you also feel more connected to the person speaking. Since Smith doesn’t remove all of the stutters and “um’s” that people commonly do as they speak you can’t help but feel more drawn to the scene and pay more attention to the words that they’re saying. Smith seems to perfectly draw in the readers to feel that they’re also sitting in on this interview by putting the effort into describing the setting, people, and actions that they’re doing before the start of the interview. For example, before getting into the monologues of the Park family she gives a long explanation of the setting and people around her, "a very pleasant, sunny high-ceilinged new modern home in Fullerton...The feel of the place is airy but there is a lot of furniture... Mr. Park speaks in the rhythm of a person who has full authority and ease, and a person who has all of the facts exactly straight" (Smith, 142). Again, it leads to this sense of realism that readers wouldn’t have gotten from news articles. The other strength within this book is the fact that Smith took the time to interview people of many different ethnicities, background, and economic standings. The diversity of the people she interviewed helps readers have an even bigger understanding how many Los Angeles residents felt when these riots occurred.

Although this book has many strengths, there is also a major weakness that needs to be addressed. After reading Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 it’s apparent that while Smith took the time to conduct a wide diverse set of interviews, she seemed to miss a crucial account of the Los Angeles riots from the experiences that many officers of the Los Angeles Police Department faced. Although she did conduct an interview with former chief Daryl Gates his experience of the Los Angeles riots would have been completely different than an officer’s account of the riots. She also managed to conduct an interview with a firefighter yet completely missed this one side that most likely had plenty to say about the Los Angeles riots. There were many monologues that discussed the law enforcement that were there during those riots, yet never gave an officer that was there the chance to describe their understanding or feelings of the during and after the riots. For example, Stanley K. Sheinbaum stated "at the same time, I had been on this kick, as I told you before, of... of fighting for what's right for the cops, because they haven't gotten what they should. I mean this city has abused both sides. The city has abused cops. Don't ever forget that" (Smith, 15). This is such an important statement that this former police commissioner made that to not include an officer's perspective after his monologue really lends a disservice to this book/play. Even getting an interview from one of the members of the military that were sent out to Los Angeles during the riots would have been an interesting addition to this play. An officer’s or national guardsman’s verbatim account of their experiences would have been crucial to the play and to the readers understanding of what occurred during the riots.

Despite those weaknesses, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a very interesting and crucial book/play that helps people understand the importance and tensions between people in Los Angeles during that time. This book will help those who were not born during the time of the riots gain a deeper understanding of the problems and feelings that contributed to the Los Angeles riots. These readers and those who were born during the time of the riots will both gain a sense of understanding and leave with a new side to the riots that they normally would’ve never experienced. This book/play will be an important addition to California literature that describe the racial tensions and socioeconomic problems that many minority groups and people of low economic standing face in this state.

[Emma Getz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely fascinating analysis of the 1992 Rodney King riots in LA using real quotes from interviews and court hearings. This piece touches on so many racial nuances and perspectives of the whole situation. It's amazing how relevant this play is still in our historical moment, and there are so many parallels to modern current events. I would recommend this play to anyone, but especially those who are unfamiliar with Rodney King and the 1992 riots. Smith is truly a pioneer of documentary theatre, a genre that I hope grows in popularity.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

American history is known for certain signature triumphs. Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight is a crucial exploration of what is arguably American culture's signature tragedy: that whatever it is that one thinks makes the United States "great", that thing exists side by side and in constant tension with our ongoing failure to address social injustice, economic inequality, and the clash of race, power, and privilege.

For those who may not be familiar with Anna Deavere Smith's work, she has pioneered her own style of drama, creating one-woman shows based on one-on-one interviews conducted with literally hundreds of real people. Onstage, she takes on the voices of the interviewees, using their own words, pacing, verbal tics, and gestures, transitioning seamlessly from one character to another, creating a mosaic of monologues all centered on a particular theme. In Twilight, the subject is the aftermath of the riots in Los Angeles in late April-early May, 1992, following the acquittal of four white LAPD officers in the videotaped beating of African-American Rodney King.

What makes Twilight extraordinary is that it is at once an immensely valuable artifact of a particular moment in time, and a thought-provoking challenge to any complacency on the state of the US today. Smith gives us the stories of an incredible range of people touched by those events -- from Rodney King's aunt, to community leaders, affected shopowners, politicians, police officials, victims of random violence, fearful neighbors, to Reginald Denny, the white truck driver whose beating during the riots was also captured on video. What comes through most is the fear and the pain and the bewilderment of ordinary people caught up in or witnessing the riots, a repeated sense of not understanding how all these things happened -- while at the same time understanding, consciously or not, why they did. Sometimes the characters in Twilight express optimism about the future, but again and again, we see them grappling with questions of race, inequality, and privilege. Why, in the "land of opportunity" that the US claims to be, are opportunities so often closed off to some people, and so much more accessible to others? Why is race the most persistent dividing line in American society? How can it be that white residents of a city like L.A. can live their entire lives without ever having been to a black neighborhood like South Central? What is it that keeps people so far apart? And why do we continue to accept it?

Twilight doesn't presume to find answers to these difficult problems; instead, the main lesson to be learned from it is that 20 years later, the questions it raises largely remain the same. As such, Twilight should be considered required reading for just about everyone: the view from its stories is moving, powerful, and essential.

[Thea Paraskeva]

"Someday when I, uh, get a house, I'm gonna have one of the rooms and it's just gonna be of all the riot stuff and it won't be a blood-and-guts memorial, it's not gonna be a sad, it's gonna be a happy room. It's gonna be... of all the crazy things that I've got, all the, the love and compassion and the funny notes and the letters from faraway places, just framed, placed, framed things, where a person will walk in and just have a good old time in there. It'll just be fun to be in there, just like a fun thing, and there won't be a color problem in this room (...) I don't know what I want. I just want people to wake up. It's not a color, it's a person. So this room, it's just gonna be people, just a wild place, it's gonna be a blast. One day, Lord willing, it'll happen."

This play is heartbreaking, but necessary. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

[Abbie O'Hara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved how this play super challenged the audience to just enter into a space with an open mind and with curiosity rather than opinions and judgement and the compulsion to find a correct and definitive answer. I am working on this skill more and more these days!

I also loved how the central theme always seemed to be contrast. For example, going from the chapter of the white USC sorority girl worried about one of her dad’s 15 different luxury vintage cars being scratched in the riots to people whose stories are so personal, emotional, and comprise a life long fight against police brutality. Very frustrating to sit with this contrast

[Karnig · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting mix of interviews concerning the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, presented here as scripted prose. They were inspiration for a work of documentary theatre performed by the talented playwright, Anna Deavere Smith. It’s highly original. I wish I could see it performed.

I was ten when the riots erupted, living in Hollywood with my mom and brother. I remember pillars of smoke in the sky, wondering whose homes and businesses were on fire. I remember the fear, anger, and anxiety folks felt on our street, in our neighborhood. The ripples from the King verdict continue to travel outward. And inward.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is, essentially, a re-ordered transcript of Anna Deavere Smith's act. These pages include more of the interviews, and each interview is presented as a kind of lyric. While I appreciated that choice (to present the interviews as poetry), the transcripts don't have anywhere near the same impact as watching the interviewees being acted out. The documentary is particularly effective as a means for discussing race because of Smith's embodiment of various people...but this book seems most effective as a means for Smith to further capitalize off of her project's success.

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening and fascinating collision of journalism, theater, and poetry. What I had to take away from this book is just how little has changed in thirty years. And thirty years is far too long for so little to have changed in this issue, which remains central to the American experience.

[Mike Reiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anna D Smith continues to amaze with her breadth of scope and dexterity with voice and form. Wide range of perspectives on the LA uprisings in 92, some troubling, all searingly authentic. Cornel West and Maxine Waters have small roles.

[Meg Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This makes an excellent companion to the Netflix movie LA92.

[Willa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so thrilling to read a play - though I’m not sure you could call it one - that covers a moment in history through Every. Single. Perspective like this. Required reading for L.A. folk

[BrookeAshley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a play written by Anna Deavere Smith telling the thoughts and feelings of people who resided in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. Sparking the tension was the unjustified beating of Rodney King by four white cops which later led to an acquittal of all four policemen. The verdict is essentially what started the fire blazing riots that killed 53 people and caused over one billion dollars in property damage. The L.A. riots are considered the deadliest riots in the history of the United States having occurred for a total of six days. Twilight explores those who observed, were part of, or affected by the riots, telling true stories laced with emotion, injustice, and loss.

Having interviewed 300 people in the Los Angeles, California area, Smith incorporates in her play multiple perspectives on the riots, delving deep into the underlying problem of division and racism L.A. has struggled with for years. She grasps each character perfectly with tone, characterization, and imagery. Each monologue is told with undeniable passion and, together, express an overall need for change in the city of Los Angeles and, quite possibly, in the entirety of the United States.

Anna Deavere Smith not only wrote Twilight but also acted it out as a solo actor. Available on pbs.org, viewers can see Smith bring to life each character she so carefully interviewed and represented in her work. The play itself is considered California Literature due to the sense of community, or lack thereof, throughout the text. It is a genre all its own, Los Angeles a city all its own that is so clearly relayed in Smith’s work. The L.A. feeling comes across the pages in waves, from the exploration of the multicultural L.A. to the unique geographic of Los Angeles. Smith does a fantastic job capturing the mood of the City of Angels not only during the 1992 riots but also in general over the span of time.

One example of how well Smith grasps the characters so well with tone is an interview with Cornel West, a scholar, who has a very particular way of speaking that comes across expertly in his monologue:
Uh, but! ass, you know, ass the bess we can do, ass the bess anybody can do at any moment of human history is simply hold up the bess of what you see in the pass, no guarantee whatsoever that, one, it will ever triumph, or, two, that it will ever gain a mass following. (46)
Cornel West’s voice just leaps off the page throughout his monologue but especially here because of the words “ass”, “bess”, and the italicization of certain parts of the quote, enunciating his speech patterns very well.

At the beginning of each monologue, Smith gives a description of her interviewees, putting her skill at characterization to work. One example is her description of The Park Family whose member, Walter Park, was severely affected by the L.A. riots. The description is very long but gives a strong idea of the type of family the Parks are. Parts of it read:
A very pleasant, sunny, high-ceilinged new modern home in Fullerton. There is a winding staircase that comes into a hallway. The furnishings are replicas of Louis XIV. Walter Park, who has had a gunshot through the eye, has a scar on the left side of his face […] Mr. Park speaks in the rhythm of a person who has full authority and ease, and a person who has all of the facts exactly straight. When he begins talking, his wife and son shake their heads to let me know that he doesn’t know the answer to the question. (142)
Most of Smith’s characterizations prior to each monologue and even sometimes throughout monologues are just as descriptive as the one given here. They make the characters more appealing.
Her use of imagery goes hand-in-hand with the characterization as seen above with the staircase and Mr. Park’s physical appearance. Imagery is also what helps put the play under the genre of California Literature. For instance, one character walks Smith through their drive from one location to the next detailing street names that are very familiar to Los Angeles residents (134). Another character goes a bit deeper with their description of L.A., a bit more abstract, that gives a certain sense of community. Talking about how residents of Los Angeles don’t travel much, the interviewee says “It’s as if it is a different country, and that’s the view – and that’s the horror of Los Angeles. So it was an extraordinary time” (209).

Twilight is really a fantastic read all around but as with any written work, it has weaknesses. For one, if being read, the play is relatively crude/vulgar. Profane words are common because of the type of people Smith interviews. It is understandable considering that some of the characters are ex-gang members or just simply people who tend to curse a lot. Smith believes in staying true to her characters so leaving the profanity in is tolerable if looking at the play from a writer’s point of view or an artist’s perspective. If one does have any issue with curse words, I would recommend watching the play over reading it because PBS censors it. Another weakness Twilight has is the organization of the interviews. There is kind of one but not really. It seems to string along from perspective to perspective without much of a reason behind why one interviewee is being put before or after the other interviewee. It is a weakness that can be well overlooked but is there anyways. Though it may be Smith’s intention not to have an obvious order to her placement of monologues.

Overall, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is an excellent read. The information on the riots in L.A. is interesting and keeps the reader engaged. The way each monologue is told makes the play appealing and true to character. Smith makes it easy to envision each person in their environment as well as empathize with them. The feeling of Los Angeles and community comes across very strong as well especially for those who live in the surrounding areas or even just in California itself. Once I got to the end of the work, I started formulating my own opinions on race and diversity. The play made me think harder about the issues at hand in every state in America but really made me give thought into what kind of city Los Angeles is. Maybe that is Smith’s purpose, to think about our multicultural country and me, my multicultural city. To make her readers aware of others and their differing perspectives. Maybe Smith wants her readers to broaden their minds in regards to peace and equality by helping us look through another person’s eyes. If so, Smith does effectively.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled this book out of my stack of books that I had bought but never read (but did write papers on?) for an honors seminar class while I waited for all the trending books on racism that I rushed to purchase to arrive in the mail. This was a fairly quick read about the LA riots and was in a unique style - a collection of short interviews meant to be performed as a play. Although I sometimes struggled with that style it also allowed for so much more emotion and such a wide range of viewpoints and characters since each interview was fairly short.

I’m always amazed at how little I know about history and how frequently history repeats itself. Some of the interviews referenced the Watts riots of the 60s in a way of “I can’t believe this is still happening” and I couldn’t help thinking the exact same thing while experiencing global protests here 28 years later. The parallels were honestly alarming and frustrating and some of these interviews could very well have been talking about the stories of police brutality that are being highlighted right now.

I also found the storylines highlighting the tensions between the Korean and Black LA communities interesting, although that was a small portion of this book. I’m reminded once again how complex race relations are in America. Some of these interviews paralleled social media posts I’m seeing right now calling to Asian Americans to support BLM.

I know I have a lot more research to do both on race in general and specifically on the LA riots as the book focused more on the emotions surrounding these events than the details of the events themselves. Overall I would recommend this book especially for those like myself who are trying to commit to reading more books on racism and more Black/POC stories both now while these topics are trending and for the many years following until we no doubt repeat these events again.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to have given this book three and a half stars. On one hand I consider it a book well worth reading; my understanding of the time period has been broadened by its content especially the interviews. On the other hand, I found the vehicle of poetry (I am a retired English teacher who loves reading, teaching about, and teaching the writing of poetry) often difficult to follow- not as effective as an actual interview. I'm aware, of course, that this was written primarily to be performed. While a disturbing read, it offers valuable information one did not get from watching news sources of the day.

[Jeff Winger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a work that explores the events surrounding the Rodney King trial and following LA Riots. Smith is a playwright who tries to capture the different voices in the community of Los Angeles. Twilight is a culmination of interviews that Smith had with key players of the events (those who were directly influenced). These interviews serve as the foundation for the dialogue that ends up creating this one person performance play. Each chapter of the play is a performance of the dialogue of what each interviewee said.

This book’s primary function is to serve as a call to improve race relations and step across such racial boundaries. It has been assigned in ethnic studies and literature classes because of the content of including different racial voices. The main argument of the book surrounds the idea that people should understand the viewpoints of the other races to improve relations among races. While Twilight brings in voices from different viewpoints, there is still an overwhelming slant favoring one race over another the ends up hurting the reader’s perception of racial harmony.

The book is broken into different sections mainly in chronological order showing cause and effect. It starts out with a Mexican man being treated with inferiority throughout his life as he was called names in his youth and later beaten by white police officers. The following section focuses on established racial tensions under the topics of gangs along with the police versus the citizens of color. The next section of the book highlights the Rodney King beating and proceeding trial. It gives the perspectives of a former police officer, a witness to the beating, a white juror from the trial, and the district attorney. The next portion talks about the riots itself. There are interviews from multiple angles such as the Korean and black conflict, first responders, and leaders from the community and different organizations. The final sections discuss the effects of the riots, the ideologies, and how racial interactions can improve.

Now since this book has the setting of California, we can talk about it in the special genre that is California literature. When we think about California literature, we think of things such as harmony, peace, nature, diversity, along with rich and poor in regards to the state itself in which it reflects the literature. The goal of California literature should be to positively promote the actual unity among the people and the different regional cultures of the state. California is thought of as the melting pot of cultures due to its diversity. Due to this thought, there is an inherent idea that people of different race and culture should get along well. Unfortunately, this book seems to tear into diversity and highlight the negativities of a diverse culture. That is to say it promotes that one race is superior to the other, whether it is white over black or black over white. Consider this from an ex-gang member, “Only thing we’re expressing through the Rodney King [beating]…it shows how a black person gets treated in his community. And it was once brought to the light…they handled it like a soap opera” (Smith 100). The perspective here is that people of one race get overpowered by another and then that race that overpowers “celebrates” that win by brushing things off. Some people may say that the officer was doing their job within their parameters and there was no brutality through overpowering the other. From this, attacking the officers would cause the same uprising. Since the police officers that were discussed were white, the argument from that perspective doesn’t hold much weight in the eyes of the non-white. “Now if that was an officer down there gettin’ beat…Just imagine how many people woulda been out there clappin…” (Smith 101). It simply is a game of which group is superior. That is what the readers get out of reading that. Then again, if we don’t talk about the unequal treatment among people we would lose the authenticity of the narrative since certain topics would be avoided. Sometimes people have to understand the historical context from the past before recognizing and making the change towards unity and that is what Smith’s intent was and she does a good job from that angle.

Overall after reading all the chapters from the viewpoints of the different people, there is still one group being favored over the other. Blacks are portrayed as the victim and whites are portrayed as the enforcers, everyone else (other minorities) are in between. Through the victimization of the black people, readers are forced to feel bad for them from the onset. Although the book brings in the perspectives from the other side of the equation like white police employees and government employees, it does not overcome the problems that the blacks faced. The book plays with the emotions of the reader just like how the events surrounding the riots were ignited by the emotions of the affected. People may think that such victimization brings compassion towards everyone and promotes the want for equality. Instead, it fuels even more hatred for each side towards each other because one side will always think victimization is unfair and that those people would need a safe-space. Unfortunately, this goes against the spirit of California literature and therefore this book is not a good representative of California literature based on that idea. But it is a good representative book on California’s historical past due to the authenticity.

[Shelby (Grace with Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such an interesting look at racial conflicts in 1992. I love the format that Anna Deavere Smith decided to use, with the different segments/snippets of people surround the event getting "interviewed." It reminded me a lot of the Laramie Project. I do think this is a play that should be taught to more students because it has so much to say about prejudice and hatred. The world is a messed up place, but by reading and understanding different perspectives, we are closer to peace.

[Carina L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye-opening. Its crazy how so many of these stories reflect that 2020 police violence incidents. I love how many different people Smith managed to interview for this play. She's got gang members, store owners, a juror from one of the major trials, major figures during the time. Would highly recommend. I just saw a production where the stage manager had this play as one of her credits, now I want to ask her all about the process!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was... an experience, let's say, just like the class itself

[Octavia]

Beautiful work from a very weird lady. If Anna won’t talk about her white momma I will.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An explicit look at the complexities of the human experience. Smith holds nothing back while interlocking the accounts of several different subjects.

[nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It was, I think, a media fest of making white people scared of the African American community, and, and nothing had changed." -- Paula Weinstein, movie producer (pg. 211)

"We can't live, our own house burning. This isn't somebody else's house, it's our own house. This is the city we are living in." -- Peter Sellars, director (pg. 200)

"I also said that all of this anger and despair was exacerbated by the excessive use of force by police departments, that the Justice Department has never ever used its power to do anything about excessive force in these cities, and that, in addition to this, dealing with this joblessness, the Justice Department is going to have to find a way to intervene in these cities when these police departments are out of control. -- Rep. Maxine Waters, U.S. Congresswoman, CA-35 (pg. 169)

Reading "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," I was struck by how contemporary much of the language sounds. The beating of Rodney King and the subsequent 1992 L.A. Riots happened 25 years ago, but concerns about police brutality, urban decay, structural inequality, and the role of the media are at the center of our political discourse today. This play, crafted from the words real people that Anna Deavere Smith's interviewed regarding the King incident and the riots, is simultaneously a historical document, a brilliant piece of documentary theatre, and a chilling reminder of how far we've come as a nation, but also how little we've accomplished in the way of social betterment. There is still work to be done to solve problems of police brutality, poverty, and income inequality. Anna Deavere Smith's play demonstrates the human cost of letting inequality fester. There is, sadly, much to learn from this slice of history in 2017.

[Maiya Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maxine Waters' interview/speech in this play is legendary and she's forever a badass. Smith does a good job choosing a variety of people to include for telling the story of the 1992 riots from multiple angles (journalist, storekeeper, juror, family members, etc). She writes a "realness" to their stories via dialect (Angela King's stutters and pauses), emotion (Paul Parker's outrage that people across the world only cared about Reginald Denny's beating because he's white), and stage directions (Mrs. Young-Soon Han slapping the table as she describes the hardships of the Koreans). Each scene is cleverly titled as well based on content of the interview ("The Unheard" was my favorite).

[Benewaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book like Fires In The Mirror was inspired by a racial tension. This was inspired by the Rodney King riot riot in Los Angeles. The riot was sparked by the brutally beaten of an African American man by four white policemen. This incidence like the Fires in the mirror incidence was associated with racism and many people stood up to let their voices to be heard.
Anna Smith interviewed many people from both sides and also people from other races and she turned made them into monologues. Her style of writing and informing the public about these incidence is very creative and genuine. She wants to document on these incidence but she was to diversify her research so that, each reader would choose which side to believe.
She does not want to report on one side and report bias information. I think that is a very great way of documenting and it also brings energy into the writing because many of these people are very furious and they all want justices.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play is thought-provoking, which I think describes Anna Deavere Smith perfectly. The L.A. riots happened when I was only 11, and what I did have access to as a girl leaving in a suburb outside of Atlanta, Georgia was not both sides of the story. It was interesting to dive into these events as an adult and see the effects they had on the place I now call home.

I did find the play a bit hard to read because Smith created it from interviews she did with people who lived through the riots and their aftermath. Quite a few of the pieces are colloquial, stammering and thoughts drifting off without completion, which is truthful of how humans speak. I highly recommend seeing a performance of this play in addition to reading it. With the unfortunate events of the last couple of years in Maryland, Florida and North Carolina, I think PBS re-released Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Seek it out.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the introduction Smith talks about the role of theater in society, and specifically the role she tries to take with her theater in her American society. She says she is trying to get to the human quality behind the crisis and thereby trying to get to the process, the inner workings of society's problems. I don't remember much of the LA riots, I think I was too young, too consumed by my own, tangible, immediate issues to care about something so vague and far away in anything but the most basic, right/wrong way. This play is a look straight into the heart of all that was more complicated than it seemed, as are most events that society and the media portray in the simplest terms. You can't help but wonder what else you don't know, what else you haven't been paying attention to, and what you can do to commence your own little corner of change in this world.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike the other Twilight, Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a powerful collection of stories from the 1992 L.A. riots. If you ever get a chance to see this amazing actress (who I first saw as Nancy McNally, the national security advisor on The West Wing) acting out the monologues published in this book, do! She inhabits these characters in a fascinating and compelling way. The text on its own, too--with Smith's added stage directions, etc--is striking and gives those of us who were either too young, too far away (or both) the opportunity to experience the riots through the eyes of those who were there and who were affected in very real and very frightening ways by the violence and turmoil. A compelling read that I highly recommend.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Los Angeles race riots of 1992 erupted after a “not-guilty” verdict was announced for the police officers charged with beating a black motorist named Rodney King. Anna Deavere Smith interviewed people involved with and affected by the chaos in their city at the time. The script for Twilight: Los Angeles was created from the words of those interviewed, verbatim. The power of this form of documentary theatre lies in its ability to capture the far reaching effects of the incident and to allow the audience to contemplate the event from multiple perspectives. Instead of choosing an easy hero and villain duality, Smith shows us that no one involved with such tragedies considers himself the bad guy, and no one can predict every consequence of a particular action. Without imposing meaning, Twilight: Los Angeles offers insight into the complex world of race relations.