About the play: 

Acclaimed as “an American masterpiece” (Newsweek), TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 is a stunning work of “documentary theatre” in which Anna Deavere Smith uses the verbatim words of people who experienced the Los Angeles riots to expose and explore the devastating human impact of that event. 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 (Dramatists Play Service, Inc.) 

Director’s Note 

Twilight does a brilliant job of using the Rodney King police beating to reveal the ways in which the tentacles of racism permeate all aspects of our society. Our approach to this play is to ask these characters from 1992 to stand in spaces and to wear clothes that still feel unsafe for so many. Take-downs occur on sidewalks, streets, bedrooms and backyards. An innocuous item of clothing, such as a black hoodie, becomes evidence that the dark skinned boy underneath was “up to no good.” 

This play forces us to confront inequalities in policing that are centuries old. Rudy Salas, a character in this play, reflects on the beating of Rodney King in 1992 and expresses outrage that he too was abused by Police during the 1940s. In producing this play today, we can’t help but make connections with the racial injustice we witnessed in the summer of 2020 with the murder of George Floyd.    

The hard work continues.