Smith Makes Suggestions Tha 101 Twilight Los Ange

I have posted the Dramatists’ Play Service version of the Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 script on the COURSE DOCUMENTS tab on blackboard, so you can access it if you need it to answer these questions:

Before our discussion class for the piece, please think about Anna Deveare Smith’s acting choices, and how they affected your understanding of the character.

Please addresses ONE of the following two prompts in a paragraph of about 200 words, for up to 1.5 POINTS in your Final Critical Journal:

1. The play achieves its social message through a contrast of presenting various points of view about the uprising/riots. Looking back through the actual script I posted, or remembering the film, can you find specific pairs of characters whose points of view contrast with one another? Please describe how these characters’ perspectives on the riots contrast (you may juxtapose as many pairs as you like, but the important thing is to be specific and explain HOW they contrast, as thoroughly and specifically as you can), and then try to explain where the author’s own viewpoint lies, in relation to these characters. What is HER point of view? What is she trying to tell her audience? Does she seem to sympathize with some characters more than others? How so? How can you tell?

2. What is the effect of having one person play all of these characters? In the DRAMATISTS’ PLAY SERVICE version of the script that I posted on blackboard, Smith makes suggestions about how this play could be performed by a cast of six actors. Do you think this would make the piece more effective, or less? What is powerful theatrically (in terms of the play’s social message) about one person doing all of these roles? What would be lost by having more than one person perform the show? What would be gained? Use specific examples from the play to bolster your argument if you choose to respond to this prompt.