Side by Side Photo of Dr. Cornel West and Renee Johnson
Twilight: Los Angeles,1992, a documentary theatre play created by Anna Deavere Smith (award winning actress and dramatist), will be performed at the Lake Villa District Library on Saturday, September 17th, at 2 pm.
Twilight: Los Angeles,1992 was originally conceived, written, and performed solo by Anna Deavere Smith. She conducted over 300 interviews with politicians, community activists, police, jurors, shopkeepers, and more who directly and indirectly experienced the Los Angeles uprising that happened when four police officers were acquitted after the Rodney King police brutality case. As Smith says,"Twilight is an attempt to explore the shades of (LA’s) loss. It is not really an attempt to find causes or to show where responsibility was lacking. Theater can mirror society. But in order to do that theater must embrace diversity. It must include new characters in our human drama that have not been portrayed on our stages. I went to Los Angeles as part of this process, to listen to those who had lived through the disturbances and to reiterate their voices in the theater."
Mosaic Players will be presenting the play with four actors - Renee Johnson, Allison Fradkin, Gary Luz, and Chris Riter - playing the individuals Smith interviewed for the project. Some of the famous figures in the show are Dr. Cornel West, police officer Ted Briseno, opera singer Jessye Norman, and activist chef Alice Waters among many others.
The artistic team for Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is led by Artistic Director Rebecca Zellar. Bonnie Hart and Jeanna Daebelliehn are stage managing, Daniel Melendez is the sound designer, and Daniel Esquivel helped design the set. Costumes, props, and stage decoration are a cast and crew collaboration.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 will be sponsored by the Lake Villa District Library (140 Munn Road, Lindenhurst, IL) and will be presented on Saturday, September 17th, at 2 pm. All attendees must register in advance for this free event at https://lvdl.libnet.info/event/7040287. The event will be indoors. For specific questions about content, age-appropriateness or effects that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact Rebecca Zellar at rebecca.zellar@mosaicplayers.org.
Mosaic Players, based in Antioch, Illinois, is a nonprofit 501(c)3 traveling ensemble that creates and performs theatre focusing on social justice, human rights, and anti-racist issues while promoting dignity, equity, inclusion, understanding, and respect. Please visit us online at www.mosaicplayers.org for show announcements, news, blog posts, and more about our company. We are also on facebook.