Office of Campus Community Relations

October 29, 2004
Davis Enterprise

"Twilight" characters come to life

By Sharon Stello/Enterprise staff writer

Acclaimed actress, author and playwright Anna Deavere Smith will perform "Twilight: Complexities of Race in America," a unique combination of journalism, theater, lecture and performance art, next month at the UC Davis Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Part of the university's Distinguished Speakers series, Smith's appearance will bring to life highlights of her scripts including "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," which was selected for this year's Campus Community Book Project.

Before her performance at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, in Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall, Smith will take part in a panel discussion on racial issues from noon to 1:30 p.m. the same day in Mondavi Center's Studio Theatre. Tickets are still available for the evening performance. Reservations are not required for the panel discussion, but seating for this free event is on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Anna Deavere Smith is truly breaking new ground in terms of how live theater can address social issues, and we're extremely pleased that her Mondavi Center appearance is taking place within the context of the Campus Book Project and a larger community discussion of race-related issues," said Mondavi Center Director Brian McCurdy.

In a phone interview Thursday, Smith said she hopes those who read her books, see her performance and discuss the riots and racial tensions will learn about the human condition, talk about their own experiences and explore the issues of divide in their communities.

"I always like to think not just about what they take away, but what they bring to it," she said.

Smith said she decided to write about the L.A. riots following the Rodney King verdict because "it was very clear to me that in that time, in the early '90s, that race relations was much bigger than black and white."

Smith said the "Twilight" project was challenging in many ways. For nearly 300 interviews, she had to go into neighborhoods and cultures that she knew nothing about and find a way to connect with people and help them feel comfortable opening up and sharing their perspective.

"I knew no more about Beverly Hills than I did about Nickerson Gardens (in South Central L.A.)," Smith said.

"It did cause me to grow intellectually and spiritually and it definitely enriched my imagination," said Smith, adding that she developed a profound love and respect for the city of Los Angeles and a soft spot in her heart for Los Angelenos.

She has kept in touch with a few of the people she interviewed for the book and re-interviewed some of them when making the film of her performance in 2000.

Smith said at that point, she found that white people felt everything had returned to normal but people of color felt not much had changed since the riots. Then, in 2001, the terrorist attacks happened on the East Coast and that affected everyone on some level.

"The world is more complicated than when I wrote the book," Smith said.

Smith said she is now writing a book about art and politics, looking at how art brings people together to discuss important issues.

Perhaps best known for her role as national security adviser Nancy McNally on NBC's popular show "West Wing," or for her work in movies such as "Philadelphia" and "The Human Stain," Smith has had a long and distinguished career in live theater. Hailed by Newsweek as "the most exciting individual in American theater" in 1993, she received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowship in 1996.

In her plays, Smith has created a unique form critics have dubbed "documentary theater," interviewing hundreds of subjects and crafting their impressions into one-person scripts that she typically performs herself. For two decades, she has researched and written works exploring the theme of race in America as part of a project she calls "On the Road: A Search for American Character," according to a news release from the Mondavi Center.

Publication of her scripts has brought her considerable acclaim as an author. "Fires in the Mirror," an exploration of conflicts between Jews and African Americans, was an Obie Award winner and a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, and was broadcast on PBS as part of the network's "The American Playhouse" series.

"Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," an examination of issues surrounding the Rodney King riots, was an Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee, and was adapted for film by director Marc Levin. Her latest play is "House Arrest," an examination of the role the presidency has played in American culture.

For "Twilight," Smith interviewed nearly 300 people, gathering their impressions and weaving them together into a one-person play that examines issues of police brutality, segregation and economic disparity through a variety of voices, characters and viewpoints. In performance, Smith uses her considerable skills as an actress to bring the interview subjects to life, blending their observations into a compelling and emotionally rich narrative.

In performance, Smith enacts characters including a Korean store owner whose business was destroyed in the 1992 rioting, a tour guide at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, a Rodney King juror, filmmaker Ken Burns and many more, as described by the Mondavi Center.

"One person at a time, one idea at a time, one temperament at time, she builds up a rich, panoramic canvas of a national trauma," The New York Times wrote of "Twilight."

Tickets for Smith's performance at the Mondavi Center range from $21 to $36 for adults and $13 to $18 for students and children. Tickets are available from the Mondavi Center Ticket Office, by calling 866-754-ARTS (2787) toll-free, or online at MondaviArts.org.

- Reach Sharon Stello at sstello@davisenterprise.net or 747-8043

Thursday, October 29, 2004