Next Act Theatre presents the Milwaukee premiere of Anna Deavere Smith’s documentary play Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. This Tony Award-nominated production is based on Smith’s hundreds of interviews with people who witnessed or experienced the 1992 L.A. civil disturbance sparked by the verdicts of the Rodney King beating trial. Twilight offers dozens of verbatim testimonials from more than 30 people connected to what is often described as one of the worst urban disasters in U.S. history.
“Anna knits together transcriptions or excerpts from interviews and in so doing gets a kaleidoscope perspective of the event,” says David Cecsarini, Next Act’s producing artistic director as well as the director of Twilight. “The story connects to recent and ongoing incidents of police shootings and harassment, and reactions to those shootings. The purpose of producing this show is to get us to consider what’s going on in Milwaukee. It calls attention to the systemic nature of the condition of many inner cities, to the substantial population not being included in society as a whole. A riot is simply an end result of a long time of building up because of a condition or a reason. We’re hoping, as the community engages in this piece, they will consider the city and its condition and search for ways to prevent something like this from erupting.
This production will be performed with a cast of six, including Milwaukee theater veterans Marti Gobel, Angela Iannone and Ryan Schabach. “Each actor represents about five different characters,” says Cecsarini. “We are listening to and seeing specific real people who were connected to the events. All the actors are skilled, talented and really understand the mindset of each of the people they’re depicting, which is essential in monologue form.
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“Please come to engage,” he adds. “I’m seeing this piece as the community event of our year. Join and represent community; reinforce it with your presence at this piece that gets us to look at ourselves.”
Next Act’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 runs Jan. 28-Feb. 21 at 255 S. Water St. For tickets, call 414-278-0765 or visit nextact.org.
Theatre Happenings:
n Milwaukee’s Bronzeville Arts Ensemble and Madison’s Theatre LILA present the regional premiere of The Mojo and the Sayso, by Aishah Rahman, Jan. 28-31 at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St. The show addresses police violence against African American youth. Malkia Stampley, producing artistic director of Bronzeville, says, “This collaboration brings two communities together, Milwaukee and Madison, to shed light on this difficult subject through art.” For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.
n Over Our Head Players’ Snowdance 10 Minute Comedy Festival is an event filled with original comedies from writers throughout the country that run 10 minutes or less. The festival runs Jan. 29-Feb. 28 at Sixth Street Theatre, 318 Sixth St., Racine. For tickets, call 262-632-6802 or visit overourheadplayers.org.
