(Let me know if you think the quote is too long)
I can imagine a theater full of people waiting to a performance unlike no other. As the performance goes on I can see people amazed by the ability of a single actor able to act out different character. She goes from a Korean family, to a police officer, to a Denny Reagan, to the aunt of Rodney King and so on. Acting out every character vividly and capturing the essence of that character. As she acts out Allen Cooper, an ex-gang member and activist in national truce movement, say says:
What Rodney King . . .
It been-
It’s been twenty, thirty years,
And people suffered beatings from law enforcement.
It ain’t nothin’ new.
It was just brought to light this time.
But then it showed what-
It showed that it doesn’t mean a thing,
It doesn’t mean a thing,
Now if that was an officer down there getting’ beat,
It would a been a real national riot thing-
You hear me?
Just imagine how many people woulda been out there clappin’;
It wouldn’t a been no sad sorry, hot . . .
It woulda been a happy hot line.
Everybody makin’ emotion out of somwthin’:
Rotney king, Rotney King, Rotnet King.
It’s not Rotney King.
It’s the ghetto.
This amazing playwright and actor is Anna Deavere Smith. Her playwright is entitled “Twilight Los Angeles, 1992” It is based on her interviews after the riots in Los Angeles following the Rodney King Case. Rodney King is an African American that was caught on tape being seriously beaten by four police officers. After the four police officers were found not guilty the city of Los Angeles goes crazy and shootings, fires, beatings, and robberies start everywhere. In the playwright, Anna Smith’s manages to capture the speaker’s voice and emotions through her own body. The main purpose of her piece is to show everyone the opinion of the people involved at this time and provide American with the ability to make their own conclusions about the riots in Los Angeles.
