Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

A must-see! A gripping and urgent production. Smith and her early masterpiece still have plenty to say.

The Boston Globe

“As necessary now as when Los Angeles was actively smoldering” (The New York Times), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a stirring cry for reform. Thirty years ago, the news of the police officers’ acquittal in Rodney King’s police brutality case reverberated throughout the streets of Los Angeles. Called “a riot,” “a revolution,” and “a social explosion,” the events that followed drew worldwide attention—and inspired playwright, actor, and scholar Anna Deavere Smith (Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, Let Me Down Easy, Fires in the Mirror) to dissect the anatomy of the civil unrest. Her Tony Award-nominated, Obie Award-winning exploration derived from interviews with more than 350 Los Angelinos reveals the fault lines that set the city ablaze. Smith revised the play last year for a cast of five while in residence at Signature Theatre, where Taibi Magar (Macbeth In Stride, We Live in Cairo) directed this acclaimed production.

This production contains footage of extreme violence, instances of racialized and discriminatory language, and the sound of a gunshot. See our Resources for Healing.

Conceived, Written, and Revised by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Taibi Magar
Presented in association with Signature Theatre

Engagement Support
The Crimson Lion / Lavine Family Foundation

Production Support
Katie and Paul Buttenwieser

Additional Education and Engagement Support
Abrams Foundation

1,000 free tickets to Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 are available to public high school students, including for The Appetizer on September 23. Students can reserve tickets online.

1,500 tickets priced at $5 are available to anyone who self-identifies as benefiting from a subsidized ticket. Please contact Ticket Services at TicketServices@amrep.org or 617.547.8300 to purchase tickets.