In 1991, the violent police assault of African American Rodney King ignited international outrage after being captured on videotape and aired widely. A year later in 1992, in the aftermath of the trial and acquittal of the police officers charged with assault, protest and riots broke out in the streets of Los Angeles, where the incident took place.

MacArthur ‘Genius’ award-winning playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith weaves a stunning, comprehensive portrait through the verbatim words of 40 people from the ashes of the riots in this explosive piece of documentary theatre. Nominated for the 1994 Tony Award for Best Play, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is the result of nearly 300 interviews Smith conducted in a nine-month span with gang members, police officers, lawyers, activists and shopkeepers from a diversity of class and racial backgrounds.

Twilight offers a searing look at the impact of social, economic and political lines that divide not only a city, but also a nation, through the lens of a seminal moment in modern United States history.

TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

This event is part of our Civil War to Civil Rights: The Well-Being of a Nation series.