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Docudrama pioneer, actress, and author welcomes class of 2019 to the College with electrifying performance

BY: Chris Hassay ’17

On Sunday, August 30, ̽������ College welcomed actress, author and activist Anna Deavere Smith to discuss matters of social inequality and perform scenes from 2015’s First Year Seminar common reading selection,Twilight Los Angeles 1992. This event was co-sponsored by the First Year Seminar Program and ̽������ College's 2015-2016 In-focus Program on Poverty and Inequality.

“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, gives equal voice to real people who have experienced a singular event through the subjective lenses of their diverse lives.” says Nicole Tabor, associate professor of English and scholar of Deavere Smith. “Smith’s work speaks of and to the symbiotic nature of poverty and inequality, and her book and performance help us to construct meaning from real-world qualitative examples of the two.”

Tabor introduced the author to a packed Johnston Hall audience as a recipient of a “multitude of literary and theater accomplishments.”

Wide-eyed members of the freshman class, fresh off a busy orientation weekend, were relieved when Smith broke the silence with three light-hearted, but important words: “Welcome to College.”

She described her time spent at school as “preparation for leadership” and urged the freshmen to be both cognizant of the current social climate and engaged to incite change, claiming “...once separation gets started it is kind of hard to stop.” It’s a topic she can speak on with authority: her one woman show, Twilight Los Angeles 1992, is an example of the difficulties caused by separation.

Twilight is centered around the over 240 interviews Smith conducted with people closest to the L.A. riots following the verdicts of Rodney King’s trial in 1992. She dissects the events by delivering the words of these interviews verbatim; allowing the audience to understand through perspective. The work, which freshmen were asked to read over the summer as common reading for the First Year Seminar program, is filled with the varying perspectives of Los Angeles at the time. From hollywood socialites to African Americans at the center of the rioting, Smith weaves a tapestry of character for the audience to decipher. In the spirit of reflection, she connected these stories to current events by discussing Aaron Gray and recreating an interview she had in Baltimore, her birthplace, with Kevin Moore.

Tabor described the value of the performance as a tool to help educate the incoming freshman class, “To begin college by seeing her enact what she carefully listened to, riveting the audience into listening in turn—and internalizing the diverse points of view—is to gain an intellectual, emotional, and kinesthetic introduction to ̽������ College’s discourse community.”

“Twilight let [the freshmen] experience real life excerpts from actual people and hopefully diminished some naivety and ignorance,” said River Jordan ’18, who was heavily involved in the selection of Twilight as the summer FYS reading. “Now knowing that poverty and inequality can affect more than just a few people in negative manners, the undecided students may gain compassion and ambition towards this field.” River’s views were not solitary, several freshman students left discussing the performance’s power and influence. One described the event as “a powerful idea to start your college career with.”

Following the performance and a question-and-answer session with students, Smith was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from President Bryon Grigsby ’90, who called her performance a “tour de force.” He acknowledged her advancement of the medium of dramatic theory and praised her determination to direct attention to matters of liberty rights and justice. “It is an honor for you to become a Greyhound.”

Deavere’s final piece of advice to the class of 2019: “Get a meeting. Make a plan. Give doubt a try, because confidence is overrated.”

Tabor discussed the choice of Twilight and the inherent value of the work to any and all incoming students: “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was selected to inspire and encourage. When our students go out into the world they will know that actions are based on language,” she said after the event. “You make progress by words, and formulate these words by listening, carefully, with an open and informed mind. Anna Deavere Smith’s creation of docudrama through compelling monologues shows students that there are unlimited avenues of communication to explore—and to create.”