“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” examines 1992 race riots

Michael Todd
Assistant Spectrum Editor

“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” is a documentary theater piece surrounding race riots that happened only 20 years ago.

Approximately an hour long and composed of interviews with riot witnesses and victims collected by Anne Deavere Smith, the show forces audience members to confront this too- recent history and, hopefully, to consider issues like race that normally get pushed to the side or hushed.

The set was appropriately simplistic, consisting of eight small, black boxes, a few boards spray painted to reference graffiti walls and storefronts and a few instances of noticeably dramatic lighting.

A brief video clip projected onto a wall on stage provided a brief summary of the riots. Immediately afterwards, actors emerged from the audience, where they had been seated prior to the show and marched powerfully on to the stage.

The eight actors assumed anonymity by dressing in simple black clothing and occasionally switched between minimal costume pieces, consisting mostly of shirt tops and some accessories, in order to assume the various interviewee identities they represented throughout the show.

The actors participated in independent research, which included anything from reading articles to watching YouTube videos, as well as group sessions where they talked about the effectiveness of the colorblind mindset.

Multiple actors admitted to having some difficulty connecting with at least one character, but many said that the process of dissecting their character’s mindset brought upon personal revelations and a deeper understanding of both themselves and other peoples’ viewpoints.

“I think that’s our job, to try and connect with these characters. If we’re going to (play) them, in a way we kind of have to be them,” said cast member Eleanor Bellamy. “Especially in (Twilight) because we’re playing people of different race, different genders, it’s extra hard to kind of connect to that reality. But that’s part of the job.”

The stories and characters represented were varied and included a white, male Hollywood talent agent, a Korean store owner and civil rights activist Dr. Cornel West. One character was a pregnant woman who was shot during the riots. Another was a recently divorced woman who spent the duration of the riots socializing at a hotel. Each had his or her own take on the riots and the issues behind them.

“The actors are here to … represent the souls over again, to tell the stories back over again, and then it’s up to the audience to … relate to them,” said director Alina Collins-Maldonado. “Now what can we do next? That’s always the question. What next? These shows really show people listening to each other. That’s what the actors had to do, listen to these stories. And I think that’s where we need to start.”