Documentary play examines 1992 L.A. riots
By Amber Chiang, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Bakersfield College
Bakersfield College presents “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” a documentary theater play written by award-winning writer and actress Anna Deveare Smith. Students in Bakersfield College’s Department of Performing Arts perform the play March 4, 5, 6 and March 11, 12, 13 in the College’s Indoor Theater.
“Twilight was originally a one-woman show of which Ms. Smith skillfully portrayed each person,” said the play’s director, Bakersfield College performing arts professor Kimberly Chin. “However, we will have more than 16 student actors portraying the more than 40 people in the play. Our students are working as an ensemble and have committed themselves to offering viewers a night of professional, quality theater.”
“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” is a one-woman play written and originally performed by Anna Deavere Smith. The original Broadway production opened at the Cort Theater in New York City on April 17, 1994, ran for 72 performances and was nominated for the 1994 Tony Award for the Best Play. Anna Deavere Smith was nominated for a 1994 Tony Award and recreated her role in the filmed production in 2000 directed by Marc Levin.
Smith interviewed hundreds of people about the events of the 1992 Los Angeles riots that resulted from the Rodney King trial and verdict. More than 40 of the individuals interviewed are depicted in the play. In this one-woman show, Smith skillfully portrayed each person based on her detail study of their body language, vocal quality, and vocal tone, and used their real words. Bakersfield College’s production will be presented in an intimate three-quarter round formation. Video footage of the events leading up to and including the riots of 1992 will be shown.
All performances begin at 8 p.m. and doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $3.50 for students/staff/seniors/military and $5.50 for general admission, and will be available at the door. Due to adult content and language, the play is not suitable for children under the age of 6. For a map of the Bakersfield College campus, visit www.bakersfieldcollege.edu.
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I went to see this play at BC and was disappointed in the same way I always am when the first act is interesting and promises excitement in the second act, and this excitement never arrives. Also, the performance was long: It started at 8 p.m. and ended at 11! I hate to point this out, but three of the actors presented droopy eyes and nodding heads from the middle of the second act onwards. Some performances were good, but the experience was overshadowed by the slowness of the second act that took forever to end. And I wasn’t the only who thought that. I went with two friends, and both were of the same opinion.