Central MIchigan University Theatre Presents
By Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Steve Berglund
Live-streamed from Bush Theatre, October 8-11, 2020 Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Written by Anna Deavere Smith
Director...... Steve Berglund
Scenic and Lighting Designer...... Paul Collins
Costume Designer...... Ann Dasen
Technical Director...... Dan Daugherty
Costume Shop Manager...... Daniel Thieme-Whitlow
Stage Manager...... Karinna Taylor*
Cast
Stanley Sheinbaum, Jay Woong Yahng, Sgt. Charles Duke, Federico Sandoval, Daryl Gates, Reginald Denny, Jin Ho Lee, Bill Bradley...... Sam Danko*
Understudy...... Colin Edwards
Ted Briseno, Charles Lloyd, Keith Watson, Paul Parker, Mrs. June Park, Anonymous Man...... Trell Isaac
Jessye Norman, Elaine Young, Josie Morales, Katie Miller, Chris Oh, Maxine Waters, Elaine Brown, Maria...... Grace Krick*
Rudy Salas Sr., Joe Viola, Shelby Coffey III, Talent Agent, Mr. Walter Park, Alice Waters, Mrs. Young-Soon Han...... Olivia Randall*
Angela King, Gina Rae, Octavio Sandoval, Elaine Young, Judith Tur, Cornel West, Twilight Bey ...... LeVale Walker
Thank you for your support! Out of respect for our student performers and your fellow audience members, please turn off all portable electronic devices. Also, remember that food and drinks are not allowed in the theatre. Production Team Props Master...... Logan Denton Sound Designer...... Dan Draper Light Board Operation/Electrics Crew...... Valentina Avila, Mac Hamstra, Andrew Wittbrodt Wardrobe Crew...... Jazmine Banks, Jamila Little Costume Shop Crew...... Aleigha Cheng , Abbey Demorow*, Logan Denton, Aubrey Dickens, Emma Hurley, Jenny Kroon, Isabella Silos, Evan Stehlik Production Crew...... Brynn Balogh, Emily Griffin, Avery Kiefer, The students of TAI 177 Poster and Program Cover Artist ...... Jonathon Russell Promotion and Virtual House Manager...... Jim Hickerson *Members of the National Honorary Theatre Fraternity - Alpha Psi Omega
Special Thanks Jim Bollella Kevin Campbell Sergeant Zack Ferrier, CMU Police George Holliday for permission to use Rodney King Beating Video Avery Kiefer School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts
TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
©2020. This Video recording was produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service and Anna Deavere Smith. All rights reserved. This performance is authorized for non-commercial use only. By accepting this license, you agree not to authorize or permit the Video to be recorded, copied, distributed, broadcast, telecast or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, in any media now known or hereafter developed.
WARNING: Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution or exhibition of copyrighted motion pictures, Audio & Videotapes or Audio & Videodiscs. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and may constitute a felony with a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000.00 fine. Publisher’s Acknowledgements
This version of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was created for a touring production of the play at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre,
Sharon Ott, Artistic Director;
Susan Medak, Managing Director.
In its original form Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was originally produced by the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Gordon Davidson, Artistic Director/Producer.
It premiered on May 23, 1993, and closed on July 18, 1993. It was subsequently produced as a work-in-progress at The McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey.
Its original New York production was provided by the Public Theater, George C. Wolfe, Producer. It opened at the Public Theater in March 1994 and was directed by George C. Wolfe.
It opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre on April 17, 1994. The producers were: Benjamin Mordecai, Laura Rafaty, Ric Wanetik, the Public Theater (George C. Wolfe, Producer) and the Mark Taper Forum (Gordon Davidson, Artistic Director), in association with Harriet Newman Leve, Jeanne Rizzo, James D. Stern, Daryl Roth, Jo-Lynne Worley, Ronald A. Pizzuti, The Booking Office, Inc. and Freddy Bienstock. Playwright’s Note
This play is based on interviews conducted by Anna Deavere Smith soon after the race riots in Los Angeles of 1992. All words were spoken by real people and are verbatim from those interviews.
This is a form of documentary theater. It is a documentary theater piece about the Los Angeles riot of 1992. The riots occurred after a “not guilty verdict” at the end of a trial of four Los Angeles police officers who beat a black motorist, Rodney King, and were captured on videotape. This beating and the trial were national news in the early 1990’s.
These characters are all real people who are alive or who have lived. It is not the intention of the play that any character be “sent up.” The task for all actors is to suspend judgement and stereotype at all times. An actor is seen here as a culture worker meant to help society work on its problem with tribalism in a time that it prevails all over the world.
If a character is identified as “black,” it is not the author’s intention that a black person play the role. If a character is identified as a “woman,” it is not the author’s intention that a woman necessarily play the role. It is possible to put together a company in which, at times, an actor plays his or her appropriate “type,” but at other times, and most times, they do not. The idea of the play is to suggest that even in a volatile situation, where tribes, countries, cultures, races clash, it is important that some individuals have the ability to walk in the shoes of someone different from them, even an enemy. The theory of the play is that an actor has the ability to walk in another person’s “words,” and therefore in their hearts. Time Line: March - July 1991
1991 March 3: Los Angeles Police officers beat, subdue, and arrest Rodney G. King. George Holliday, a resident of a nearby apartment, captures the beating on videotape and distributes it to CNN and other stations; it is soon seen around the world.
March 6: Police Chief Daryl F. Gates calls beating an “aberration.” Community leaders call for Gates’s resignation.
March 7: King is released after the district attorney’s office announces there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges.
March 15: Four Los Angeles police officers —Sergeant Stacey C. Koon and officers Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno—are arraigned on felony charges stemming from the King beating.
March 16: A store security camera records the fatal shooting of fifteen-year-old Latasha Harlins, an African-American girl, by Korean-American Soon Ja Du in a South Los Angeles liquor store.
March 26: The four police officers charged in the King beating plead not guilty. Soon Ja Du is arraigned on one count of murder.
March 28: Records show that $11.3 million was paid to victims of police brutality by the city of Los Angeles in 1990 to resolve police abuse cases.
April 1: In response to the King Beating, Mayor Tom Bradley appoints a commission, headed by former deputy secretary of state Warren Christopher, to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department.
April 4: The Los Angeles Police Commission places Gates on sixty-day leave.
April 5: The city council orders the reinstatement of Gates.
April 7: Gates takes disciplinary action against the four criminally charged officers. He fires probationary officer Timothy Wind and suspends the other three without pay.
May 10: A grand jury decided not to indict any of the nineteen officers who were bystanders at the beating. The police department later disciplines ten of them.
July 9: The Christopher Commission report is released; it suggests Gates and the entire Police Commission step down. Time Line: July 1991 - March 1992
July 10: Gates strips Assistant Chief David D. Dotson of his command after he complained openly of the chief’s record in disciplining officers.
July 16: The Police Commission orders Gates to reinstate Dotson.
July 22: Gates announces he will retire in 1992.
July 23: The State Second District Court of Appeal orders the trial of the four LAPD officers moved out of Los Angeles County.
September 30: The prosecution in the Soon Ja Du-Latasha Harlins trial begins its case.
October 1: The police commission approves the vast majority of the I29 reform recommendations issued by the Christopher Commission.
October 11: The jury in Soon Ja Du’s case returns a verdict: Du is found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
November 6: The Los Angeles City Council approves spending $7.1 million to settle claims of police brutality and excessive force. Total payments for the year exceed $13 million.
November 15: Compton Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin sentences Soon Ja Du to five years probation, four hundred hours of community service, and a five-hundred-dollar fine for the shooting death of Latasha Harlins. State Senator Diane Watson said, “This might be the time bomb that explodes.”
November 26: Judge Stanley M. Weisberg chooses Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County as the new venue for the trial of the officers charged in King beating.
November 29: LAPD officers fatally shoot a black man, prompting a standoff with more than one hundred residents of the Imperial courts housing project in Watts. 1992 February 3: Pretrial motions begin in the trial of the four LAPD officers accused of beating Rodney King.
March 4: Opening arguments begin in the King trail. None of the twelve jurors is African-American. Time Line: March - May 1992
March 17: Prosecuting attorneys rest in the King trial.
April 3: Officer Briseno testifies that King never posed a threat to the LAPD officers.
April 16: Willie L. Williams, police commissioner in Philadelphia, is named to succeed Gates.
April 23: Jury begins deliberations in the King trial.
April 29: The jury returns not-guilty verdicts on all charges except one count of excessive force against Officer Powell; a mistrial is declared on that count alone. The verdict is carried live on television. Over two thousand people gather for a peacefully rally at First AME Church in South-Central Los Angeles. Violence erupts. Police dispatches relay reports of head wounds, vandalism, and burglary in an ever-widening radius. Reginald Denny is yanked from his truck cab and beaten unconscious at the intersection of Florence and Normandie; the incident is captured on video. Mayor Bradley declares a local emergency. Governor Pete Wilson calls out the National Guard. Fires break out over twenty- five blocks of central Los Angeles.
April 30: Bradley imposes a curfew for the entire city, restricts the sale of gasoline, and bans the sale of ammunition. The Justice Department announces it will resume an investigation into possible civil rights violations in the King beating. Retail outlets are looted and/or burned in South Los Angeles, Koreatown, Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Watts, Westwood, Beverly Hills, Compton, Culver City, Hawthorne, Long Beach, Norwalk, and Pomona.
May 1: More than a thousand Korean-Americans and other gather at a peace rally at Western Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
May 2: Clean-up crews hit the streets and volunteers truck food and clothing into the hardest hit neighborhoods. Thirty thousand people march through Koreatown in support of beleaguered merchants, calling for peace between Korean-Americans and Blacks. Mayor Bradley appoints Peter Ueberroth to head the Rebuild LA effort. President Bush declares Los Angeles a disaster area.
May 3: The Los Angeles Times reports 58 deaths; 2,383 injuries; more than 7,000 fire responses; 12,111 arrests; 3,100 businesses damaged. The South Korean Foreign Ministry announces it will seek reparations for Korean-American merchants who suffered damages during the unrest. Time Line: May - July 1992
May 4: With troops guarding the streets, Los Angeles residents return to work and school. Twenty to forty thousand people have been put out of work because their places of business were looted or burned. In violation of long-standing policy, LAPD officers cooperate with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and begin arresting illegal immigrants suspected of riot-related crimes. Suspects are turned over to the INS for probable deportation.
May 6: President Bush receives a telegram from Representative Dana Rohrabacher (Republican, Huntington Beach) demanding quick deportation of illegal immigrants arrested during the riots.
May 8: Federal troops begin to pull out from Los Angeles. The Crips and Bloods (the two major gangs in Los Angeles) announce plans for a truce.
May 11: Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners appoints William H. Webster, former director of both the FBI and the CIA, to head a commission to study the LAPD’s performance during the civil unrest.
May 12: Damian Williams, Antoine Miller, and Henry K. Watson are arrested for the beating of Reginald Denny on April 29. Gary Williams surrenders to police later that day. They quickly become known as the L.A. Four.
May 16: Led by mayors of many of the nation’s largest cities, tens of thousands of protestors demonstrate in the nation’s capital demanding billions of federal dollars in vast urban aid.
May 19: A mistrial is declared in the case of a Compton police officer accused of fatally shooting two Samoan brothers a total of nineteen times, mostly in their backs. The jury was deadlocked nine to three in favor of acquittal.
May 21: Damian Williams, Henry K. Watson, and Antoine Miller are arraigned on thirty-three charges for offenses against thirteen motorists at the intersection of Florence and Normandie, including the attack of Reginald Denny. Bail is set at $580,000 for Williams, $500,000 for Watson, and $250,000 for Miller. None is able to post bail.
May 25: Korean grocers and leaders from the Bloods and Crips meet to discuss an alliance.
May 30: Chief Gates steps down. Willie Williams is sworn in.
July 7: Korean-American protestors are pelted with office supplies tossed from city hall windows during seventeenth day of protests over poor treatment from government officials since the riots. Time Line: September 1992 - October 1993
September 24: Mayor Tom Bradley announces that he will not seek reelection the following June.
October 17: The Webster Commission reports that deficiencies in the LAPD leadership led to failure to respond quickly to April’s civil unrest.
November 10: The trial date for defendants in the Reginald Denny beating is set for March 15, 1993.
November 17: The Black-Korean Alliance members vote to disband.
December 14: The intersection of Florence and Normandie flares again as the Free the L.A. Four Defense Committee protests at the site of Denny’s beating.
1993 January 22: Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk dismisses ten charges against the defendants in the L.A. Four case, including charges of torture and aggravated mayhem. The charges of attempted murder stand.
February 3: The federal civil rights trial against the four police officers begins.
April 7: Judge Ouderkirk grants the defense in the Reginald Denny case additional time for preparation.
April 17: The verdicts are returned in the federal King civil rights trial. Officers Briseno and Wind are acquitted. Officer Powell and Sergeant Koon are found guilty of violating Rodney King’s civil rights.
May 21: Peter Ueberroth resigns as cochairman of Rebuild L.A.
August 4: Sergeant Koon and Officer Powell are each sentenced to thirty- month prison terms.
August 19: The much-anticipated Reginald Denny beating trial begins in Los Angeles. Damian Williams, twenty, and Henry K. Watson, twenty-nine, are charges with a list of crimes including attempted murder of Reginald Denny and others in South Central near the corner of Florence and Normandie.
September 28: Final arguments begin in the Denny trial.
October 11: Judge Ouderkirk dismisses a juror for “failing to deliberate as the law defines it.” The juror is replaced with an alternate. Time Line: October - December 1993
October 12: Judge Ouderkirk removes a second juror, who asked to be excused for personal reasons, from the jury in the Reginald Denny case.
October 18: Damian Williams and Henry Keith Watson are acquitted of many of the counts against them.
December 7: Damian Williams sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison for attacks on Reginald Denny.
Excerpted from the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum program. The program was edited by Ken Werther and the time line was originally complied by Mara Issacs and subsequently revised by the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, Reprinted with permission.
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Department of Theatre and Dance Steve Berglund, Chairperson
Lynn Bowman Stacey Pattison Ricky Clarkson Jody Price Paul Collins Andrea Purrenhage Ann Dasen Damian Sanderson Dan Daugherty Keeley Stanley-Bohn Elaine DiFalco Daugherty Daniel Thieme-Whitlow Nancy Eddy Annette Thornton Jim Hickerson Heather Trommer-Beardslee Patrick Julian 2020 - 2021 First Nighters Honor Roll Special thanks to our generous supporters!
Angels ($5,000+ Lifetime) Gary Alan Beck John G. ‘76 and Andrea J. Genette ‘78 Denny* and Linda Bettisworth Darby Diehl Gwisdala ‘93 J. Timothy Caldwell and Barbara B. Dixon Ann ‘81 and John Jensen California Community Foundation Dr. Eric* and Mrs. Joan Kadler Michel A. Cameron* Mrs. Mary Mertz-Smith Kevin ‘74, ‘76 and Elizabeth Campbell ‘77 Drs. S. Benjamin* and Rose M. Prasad Larry ‘92 and Peggy Campbell Megan Goodwin and Bruce Roscoe ‘87 Miriam and Tim Connors Steven E. Ross ‘72 Yvette B. Crandall Gavin J. Smith ‘76 and Mary C. Mertz-Smith Ford H. ‘73 and Pamela A. Dingman ‘72 Nancy Page Smith* The Dow Chemical Company Foundation Suzanne D. Stark ‘76 Dow Corning Corporation Jean C. and James E. Townsend* Ronald ‘65, ‘81* and Sharron Farrell ‘77, ‘82 Producers ($1,000-$4,999 last 10 years) Douglas and Karen Batchelder Ruth E. Magnell Steve Berglund Dr. Jim and Jamie McDonald Bob ‘87 and Betty Clason ‘56 Drs. Tom and Gisela Moffit Ms. Nancy A. DeVore David and Laurie Patton Edward and Nedra Fisher Donna Poynor ‘62, ‘69 Roger* and Alice* Goenner Doris J. Ramsey Dr. Maureen Adele Harke Francis ‘89 and Sandra Rowley ‘91 Charles and Rebecca Hastings Martha L. Smith Myron and Mary Henry Fredric ‘71 and Katherine Stolaruk ‘71 Lee Hobson* Dawn Marie and Roy Tubbs Mr. Edward T. Hohlbein Don ‘68 and Ruth Volz ‘69 Ted ‘48* and Ginger Kjolhede* John and Sandy Warriner ‘78 Peter V. and Sherlyn C. Loubert Richard Dale Weingartner ‘00 Directors ($250-$999) McCarther ‘01 and Jaime Griffis ‘00, ‘10 James ‘71* and Annette Messinger ‘68 Stars ($100-$249) Mr. Frederick Charles Corey Mrs. Suzanne L. Noble Mrs. Stacey Ann Dohm Bill ‘59 and Wanda Odykirk ‘72 Ms. Margaret Teresa Donovan Dr. Eric E. Peterson Drs. Merl and Ireta Ekstrom John ‘76 and Joan Scalabrino ‘82 Ms. Jill R. Fenstermaker Barbara Sheperdigian Ed ‘68, ‘89 and Ruth Helwig ‘74, ‘80, ‘83 Mr. Rodney Sherman Elizabeth E. ‘89 and David Ihlenfeld Mrs. Linda A. Shultz Mr. Eric R. Joseph The Vandiver Group Inc. Mrs. Sarah R. Metzger Wells Fargo & Company Tom and Cindy Miles Ms. Jane Elizabeth Wilsher Actors (50-$99) Bank of America Mr. Eric T. Nyamor Mr. Paul Boehmer Gordon F. Ostrowski ‘69 Mrs. Susan Boehmer Mrs. Michelle B. Phillips Ms. Cheryl A. Cardelli Mr. James E. Rademaker II Nancy Eddy Mr. Thomas Peter Sarr Ms. Karrin Gene Fennell Mrs. Lynn Soderberg Ms. Erin Ann Hanley Mr. Howard O. Watkins III. Mrs. Therese E. Hoover Jim ‘65, ‘68 and Carol Wojcik ‘68, ‘75, ‘89 Robert ‘62, ‘66 and Catherine Janson ‘63 Ms. Diane Ruth Smith Wood Mrs. Julia Lasater Understudies ($1-$49) Ms. Kay D. Ashworth Ms. Janeice Marie Connors Dr. Steven D. Berkshire Dr. Wendy Marie Gordon Mr. Dennis Patrick Berryhill Mr. Charles E. Guenther II Mrs. Kelly Mae Berryhill Mrs. Kathleen M. Murphy Ms. Judith Bouchard Ms. Mary Lynne Sklba Mrs. Linda A. Carpenter Mrs. Estelle Sopher Ms. Audrey M. Clarkson Updated August 2020 - * Deceased
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David M. Rubenstein.
Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Additional support is provided by The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein; and the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation.
Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.
This production is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The aims of this national theater education program are to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. To this end, each production entered is eligible for a response by a regional KCACTF representative, and selected students and faculty are invited to participate in KCACTF programs involving scholarships, internships, grants and awards for actors, directors, dramaturgs, playwrights, designers, stage managers and critics at both the regional and national levels.
Productions entered on the Participating level are eligible for invitation to the KCACTF regional festival and may also be considered for national awards recognizing outstanding achievement in production, design, direction and performance.
Last year more than 1,500 productions were entered in the KCACTF involving more than 200,000 students nationwide. By entering this production, our theater department is sharing in the KCACTF goals to recognize, reward, and celebrate the exemplary work produced in college and university theaters across the nation.
Upcoming Virtual Productions
A Song for Coretta Written by Pearl Cleage; Directed by CMU Student, Yasmeen Duncan
Pearl Cleage’s A SONG FOR CORETTA, a lovely, image-soaked testament to the civil rights icon seen through the random eyes of a handful of fictional mourners who have lined up to say goodbye to the beloved Mrs. (Coretta Scott) King…brims with wit, personality and life-affirming energy.” —Atlanta Journal- Constitution. October 22-25 | Live-Streamed from Bush Theatre
The Thanksgiving Play Written by Larissa FastHorse; Directed by Keeley Stanley-Bohn
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month. November 5-9 | Live-Streamed from Bush Theatre
CMU Dance Studies Major and Dance Minor Student Choreography Showcase Artistic direction by Heather Trommer-Beardslee, Assistant Direction by CMU students Alynne Welch and Rachel Napier, Original musical composition by CMU School of Music student, Joshua Daniels
This dance film features performances and choreography by CMU Dance Studies Majors and Dance Minors, set to music from a CMU School of Music student Dec. 3 | Free on Facebook at www.fb.com/cmutheatre
Tickets: www.ShowTix4U.com/events/CMUTAD
Spring Productions
We hope to return to in-person performances in the spring semester if current health guidelines from the University and the State allow. We will announce our Spring semester plans in December.