Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Announces 5-Member Cast

Signature Theatre has announced the cast of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, running October 12-November 14 at the Pershing Square Signature Center. The production, directed by Taibi Magar, will feature five performers in a work that was first performed solo by Smith in 1993. The cast will include Elena Hurst, Wesley T. Jones, Francis Jue, Karl Kenzler, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart.

The show is described as follows: "One verdict can change the course of history. The news of the police officers' acquittal in Rodney King's police brutality case reverberated throughout the streets of Los Angeles. The events that followed the verdict drew worldwide attention. Playwright, actor, and scholar Anna Deavere Smith responded artistically by dissecting the anatomy of the unrest. Smith interviewed over 350 Los Angelenos in preparation for the original performance, and, as she describes, 'let the materials reveal meaning — personal, civic, and political,' finding interplay and connection between the monologues through rehearsal. While Smith pored over the recordings in her assiduous depictions of real-life characters, cast members in this ensemble production find drama, conflict, and emotion using the written documents as dramatic texts."

The creative team includes Riccardo Hernández (scenic designer), Linda Cho (costume designer), Alan C. Edwards (lighting designer), Darron L West (sound designer), David Bengali (projection designer), Michael Leon Thomas (movement coach), Dawn-Elin Fraser (dialect coach), Ann James (sensitivity specialist), Charles M. Turner III (production stage manager) and casting by Caparelliotis Casting and X Casting.