TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 Returns To The Taper In 2022/23 Season

Three decades after its 1993 World premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, Anna Deavere Smith's "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" returns to L.A. as part of Center Theatre Group's 2022-2023 season at the Taper. Originally performed solo by Smith, "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" has been reimagined for a cast of five performers. Casting and the director for "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" as well as the rest of the plays in the upcoming season will be announced later.

"At its best, theatre helps us understand the world around us and no production in our history has illuminated our city like 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,'" said Center Theatre Group Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman. "Anna's play introduces us to the individuals who shaped, responded to and were impacted by a pivotal moment in L.A. history. It is a piece that reminds us where we were then and helps us to understand where we are now. In discussions about the upcoming seasons with the Artistic Team, we all agreed that we couldn't let the 30th anniversary of the troubling Rodney King verdict pass by without making this announcement. 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992' offers us another opportunity to reflect on what is still required to meet our own Commitments to Change that were devised and agreed to as a response to the 2020 protests."

Anna Deavere Smith added, "Being asked by Gordon Davidson to move through the embers of the Los Angeles uprising was a watershed moment in my life as an artist and as a human being. The can do must do spirit of Gordon, the entire institution and the community, sparked something I had never experienced and have not experienced since. Center Theatre Group provided a way for me, in tandem with other drama professionals and with local intellectual/activists, to respond to the civic disaster through theatre. Here is where I learned that theatre can be transformative if it exudes what I have come to call 'a radical welcome.' No doubt there were folks at the table who had not ever been invited to step up before."

"Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" draws on over 350 interviews with politicians, activists, police, jurors, shopkeepers and countless other Los Angelenos to explore the uprising sparked by the acquittal of the men charged in the Rodney King police brutality case. Through the words of these real people, "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" delves into the long-simmering tensions that set the stage for the L.A. Riots and explores the immediate impact on individual Angelenos and the community as a whole.

Originally commissioned by the Center Theater Group, "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992"'s sold-out run in Los Angeles was followed by many successful revisions of the play, with each inviting a new group of collaborators. Those include a production at The Public Theater followed by a Broadway run and two Tony nominations; a national tour mounted at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre; a film produced by Ms. Smith and others in partnership with PBS; and the most recent reconceptualized production for five actors at the Signature Theatre in New York.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation's preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles' leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, and in collaboration with the five Associate Artistic Directors, Luis Alfaro, Lindsay Allbaugh, Tyrone Davis, Neel Keller, Kelley Kirkpatrick, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1,600 to 2,100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation's leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Ticket and subscription on-sale dates will be announced at a later date. For more information, please visit CenterTheatreGroup.org. The Mark Taper Forum is located at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012.

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