Research Paper on:
Twilight Los Angeles 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith

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the play...] Anna Deavere Smiths "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" is a book based on over 200 interviews Smith conducted accounting the riots and Rodney King beating which took  place in Los Angeles in 1992. The book and the interviews are meant as a basis for her one woman play which depicts twenty-five of the fifty interviews documented in  the book. The book is divided into several sections which provide various accounts from different perspectives in reaction to the events in 1992. Despite the dire content however, Smith manages  to include the right amount of satire, humor, harsh reality and unforgettable characters for the reader and also shows her great range as a writer and as an actor in  her characterizations. The book also includes several images from the riots and a chronological listing of the events. Actress and playwright Anna Deavere  Smith wrote "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" based on her interviews with over 200 people following the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and the Rodney King beating by four white police  officers. The stage production of the play is a one woman show and based on about twenty five people while the books contains substantially more material as explained by Smith  in her introduction (xvii-xxvi). During Smiths interviews, she found it interesting that the perception of the Rodney King beating and subsequent trial was different depending on the area of Los  Angeles the person was from and what if any sort of relationship that person had to any of those involved in the rioting. From Smiths perception, the white community of  Simi Valley where the trial was held found that Rodney King had been a threat to the police officers while Rodney Kings aunt recalls that while she was watching the