Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
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Written by: Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by: Anna Hamaguchi
Starring: Emily Hoadley, Ashley Nakanishi, Nadine Salle, Charles Lawrence, Marcus Lee, Allyson Painter, and Michelle Hyunh
Directed by: Anna Hamaguchi
Starring: Emily Hoadley, Ashley Nakanishi, Nadine Salle, Charles Lawrence, Marcus Lee, Allyson Painter, and Michelle Hyunh
Director's Note:
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, making this production of Twilight: Los Angeles an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned. Anna Deavere Smith conducted the interviews that turned into these monologues to explore the different perspectives of a community in crisis. Smith originally performed these monologues as a one-woman show, taking on the identity of both men and women along with various ethnicities. Doing this allowed her to demonstrate how all these perspectives could co-exist in one place. This production uses seven performers to portray thirty-six individuals of different genders and ethnicities. The goal of these performers is to take on the identity and the stories of individuals who may be different from them in every way possible. Our is goal is to ask: What happens when one empathizes with someone with whom you are different? What happens when a community of people are responsible for one another’s stories as much as their own? What happens when seven performers do this on one stage together? With the deep divisions of our country today, I hope this play demonstrates the kind of conversation that needs to happen so that reconciliation can take place.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, making this production of Twilight: Los Angeles an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned. Anna Deavere Smith conducted the interviews that turned into these monologues to explore the different perspectives of a community in crisis. Smith originally performed these monologues as a one-woman show, taking on the identity of both men and women along with various ethnicities. Doing this allowed her to demonstrate how all these perspectives could co-exist in one place. This production uses seven performers to portray thirty-six individuals of different genders and ethnicities. The goal of these performers is to take on the identity and the stories of individuals who may be different from them in every way possible. Our is goal is to ask: What happens when one empathizes with someone with whom you are different? What happens when a community of people are responsible for one another’s stories as much as their own? What happens when seven performers do this on one stage together? With the deep divisions of our country today, I hope this play demonstrates the kind of conversation that needs to happen so that reconciliation can take place.