GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Some powerful plays have been put on lately in our area.
The latest is by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Theatre.
Emotions in the play from three decades ago are felt again today.
The production comes with all kinds of disclaimers about perspectives, philosophies and profanities.
“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992”(review) is about the infamous police beating of Rodney King and the deadly riots that erupted following an acquittal.
Right afterward, playwright Anna Deavere Smith interviewed hundreds of people and shaped a play based on responses by everyone from a congresswoman to perpetrators.
UWGB Theatre’s online production is extraordinary for its scale and complexities.
The cast portrays 34 men and women of multiple backgrounds – and all their personalities, beliefs and behaviors.
Ten students are inspired by their director, professional actor Alan Kopischke, who himself portrays two Korean women.
The students leap into their roles because they portray real people from real, volatile events that echo what happened recently in Minneapolis.
A strange combination of disruptive events led to this production that is unlike any other for UWGB Theatre.
The play includes touches of superficial Hollywood, horrific assaults and explosive anger.
The sequence of monologues was recorded at different times and setups.
Woven in is actual footage of Rodney King’s beating, massive rioting that took 63 lives and scenes from pummeling of marchers in Selma, Alabama.
Intensity is seldom just around the corner but right there, scene after scene for 2¼ hours.
“Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” is available to view for free online through today. Info: uwgb.edu/theatre.
It is definitely theater with a purpose.
