Sep 9, 2022
In the aftermath of the 1992 LA Uprisings, Anna Deavere Smith crafted TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, a play based on Smith’s interviews with over 200 Los Angeles residents.
30 years later, through the lens of TWILIGHT, we ask: how can the arts advance social justice? Can they help us understand structural racism, as more than individual prejudice? Can they provide models for working through conflict? Can they show us both possibilities and limits to our strategies for social change?
Today we speak with two other dramaturgs who are prominent figures in their respective fields of theater, journalism, and literature: Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival and Héctor Tobar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist. What was their experience with the making of TWILIGHT? What changes do they see since 1993, both in their fields and in terms of race relations in this country?
The Arts of Racial Reckoning is executive produced by Dorinne Kondo.
This episode was edited by David Badstubner.
The Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture is generously funded by USC Dornsife and the Mellon Foundation.