Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Character Analysis

Rodney King

A Black man living in Los Angeles, on March 3, 1991, Rodney King was apprehended by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) following a high-speed chase. Upon apprehension, he was beaten by four… read analysis of Rodney King

Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith is the author of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, a one-person play whose premiere featured Smith in the sole role. The play is comprised of a series of monologues excerpted from interviews… read analysis of Anna Deavere Smith

Twilight Bey

Twilight Bey is a former gang member and organizer of the gang truce that commenced in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The play derives its title from his name, and his monologue… read analysis of Twilight Bey

Theresa Allison

Theresa Allison is a founder of Mothers Reclaiming Our Children (Mothers ROC), an organization that aids Black and Latino men arrested in Los Angeles on false or exaggerated charges. Her son is Dewayne Holmes, who… read analysis of Theresa Allison

Angela King

Angela King is the aunt of Rodney King. Although the play centers around King’s beating and the resultant riots, the play doesn’t feature his voice or include his firsthand account of the beating. Much… read analysis of Angela King

Reginald Denny

Reginald Denny is a white truck driver who was racially targeted and attacked by Black protestors during the riots. He was ultimately rescued and rushed to the hospital by four Black people who saw the… read analysis of Reginald Denny

Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters is a U.S. Congresswoman from California. Waters’s first appearance is in “The Unheard,” a scene that uses text from a speech Waters delivered at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church shortly after Daryl… read analysis of Maxine Waters

Paul Parker

Paul Parker is a chairperson for Free the LA Four Plus Defense Committee. His brother Lance was targeted by the police for being involved with Reginald Denny’s attack. Parker criticizes law enforcement’s attack on… read analysis of Paul Parker

Judith Tur

Judith Tur is a ground reporter for LA News Service. Her monologue, “War Zone,” introduces the Reginald Denny beating, which, like King’s beating, was videorecorded and widely viewed by the American public. Tur witnesses… read analysis of Judith Tur

Allen Cooper “Big Al”

Allen Cooper is an ex-gang member, ex-convict, and activist in the national truce movement. Cooper views the public uproar over Rodney King and Reginald Denny as equally distracting from the real structural problems responsible for… read analysis of Allen Cooper “Big Al”

Cornel West

Cornel West is a philosopher, activist, and public intellectual whose work concerns race, gender, and class in American society. In his monologue, “A Bloodstained Banner,” West situates the Rodney King beating within a broader sociopolitical… read analysis of Cornel West

Elvira Evers

Elvira Evers is a Panamanian woman employed as a general worker and cashier at the Canteen Corporation. In her interview, she recalls being shot in the stomach during the riots—while pregnant. Evers’s friend rushed her… read analysis of Elvira Evers

Katie Miller

Katie Miller is a bookkeeper and accountant who speaks with great authority on why the riots are justified and what they mean for the Black community. In response to criticism about Korean stores being unfairly… read analysis of Katie Miller

Sergeant Charles Duke

Sergeant Charles Duke, Special Weapons and Tactics Unit of the LAPD, served as a defense witness in both the Simi Valley and Federal trial as the LAPD’s use-of-force expert. Duke defends the LAPD officers’ physical… read analysis of Sergeant Charles Duke

Elaine Young

Elaine Young is a real estate agent who serves mostly movie stars. She is among the play’s most privileged interview subjects. Her account of the riots, from which she took shelter in the luxurious confines… read analysis of Elaine Young

Daryl Gates

Daryl Gates was chief of the LAPD during the riots, after which he was forced to resign. In his interview, he attempts to defend his absence from Los Angeles after the verdict for Rodney King… read analysis of Daryl Gates

Lance

Lance is Paul Parker’s brother. In Parker’s interview, he describes how law enforcement accused Lance of having gang affiliations and shooting at Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots, both of which Parker rejects… read analysis of Lance

Rudy Salas, Sr.

Rudy Salas, Sr. is a Mexican American sculptor and painter. The Prologue opens with Salas’s interview, “My Enemy,” in which he describes how the racism he experienced in elementary school, and his later encounters with… read analysis of Rudy Salas, Sr.

Stanley K. Sheinbaum

Stanley K. Sheinbaum is the former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission. In his first interview, he talks about attending the gang truce meetings at Nickerson Gardens to try to understand gang members’ experiences… read analysis of Stanley K. Sheinbaum

Michael Zinzun

Michael Zinzun is a representative for the Coalition Against Police Abuse and an ex-Black Panther. In his interview, Zinzun describes being the victim of police brutality. His brutal attack resulted in the loss… read analysis of Michael Zinzun

Jason Sanford

Jason Sanford is a white actor. His account of life in Los Angeles differs dramatically from most of the perspectives presented by people of color whom Smith interviews. Sanford enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Santa… read analysis of Jason Sanford

Anonymous Young Black Man

Smith interviews an anonymous young Black man who describes his experiences as a former gang member. The man concludes his interview by identifying “Am I Dreaming” by Atlantic Star as his favorite song. The song’s… read analysis of Anonymous Young Black Man

Mike Davis

Mike Davis is an LA-based writer, urban critic, and historian. In Davis’s interview, he reflects on the happier, freer childhood he experienced growing up in California in the 1960s. He suggests that in contrast, today’s… read analysis of Mike Davis

Paula Weinstein

Paula Weinstein is a movie producer. In her interview, she describes travelling to South-Central Los Angeles with other wealthy, privileged folks who had not been to that part of the city before to distribute food… read analysis of Paula Weinstein

Peter Sellars

Peter Sellars is a director. In his interview, he compares Eugene O’Neill’s tragic play Long Day’s Journey into Night to the riots. In the play, a self-centered patriarch becomes wrapped up in cultural ideals of… read analysis of Peter Sellars

Josie Morales

Josie Morales is a clerk-typist and an uncalled witness for the city of Los Angeles in Rodney King’s Simi Valley trial. Morales lived next door to George Holliday, the man who recorded King’s beating… read analysis of Josie Morales

Anonymous Male Juror

Smith interviews an anonymous man who served on the jury for Rodney King’s Simi Valley trial, in which the jury returned not guilty verdicts to all four officers involved in King’s beating. In his… read analysis of Anonymous Male Juror

Gil Garcetti

Gil Garcetti became the district attorney of Los Angeles in 1992, replacing Ira Reiner, who had been in office during the Rodney King beating and the ensuing public unrest. Garcetti defends the jury who delivered… read analysis of Gil Garcetti

Tom Bradley

Tom Bradley is the former mayor of Los Angeles. In his monologue, he describes working with his staff to draft separate messages to deliver depending on the outcome of Rodney King’s Simi Valley trial… read analysis of Tom Bradley

Joe Viola

Joe Viola is a television writer who recalls dropping off his daughter’s registration forms for Berkeley and witnessing a car pull up with a kid inside toting a nine-millimeter gun and making threats. Viola recalls… read analysis of Joe Viola

Anonymous Man #2

Smith interviews an anonymous Hollywood agent who reflects on the panic and fear that gripped the more affluent, white neighborhoods of Los Angeles as the riots were underway, though no rioting happened in these areas… read analysis of Anonymous Man #2

Captain Lane Haywood

Captain Lane Haywood is a firefighter with the Compton Fire Department. In his interview, Haywood recalls reporting to South-Central with his squad to put out the fires that began during the riot. Haywood describes what… read analysis of Captain Lane Haywood

Walter Park

Walter Park is a Korean American store owner and gunshot victim. Walter was shot in the head at a traffic light and forced to undergo a partial lobectomy, permanently changing his life. During his interview… read analysis of Walter Park

June Park

June Park is the wife of Walter Park, who was shot in the head during the 1992 Los Angeles riots and forced to undergo a partial lobotomy. Mrs. Park cries during her interview as… read analysis of June Park

Reverend Tom Choi

Reverend Tom Choi is a minister at the Westwood Presbyterian Church. In his interview, he recalls going to South Central Los Angeles to help clean up in the aftermath of the riots. In response to… read analysis of Reverend Tom Choi

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley is a Democratic senator from New Jersey. In his interview, he talks about how the law treats white people and people of color differently. As an example, he recalls a story about a… read analysis of Bill Bradley

Elaine Brown

Elaine Brown is the former head of the Black Panther Party and author of A Taste of Power. In her interview, Brown describes the senseless suicide of a young member of the party, Jonathan… read analysis of Elaine Brown

Homi Bhabha

Homi Bhabha is a literary critic, writer, and scholar. He is a renowned figure in contemporary postcolonial studies. In his interview, he meditates on the ambiguous quality of the twilight hour. Bhabha argues that twilight… read analysis of Homi Bhabha

Betye Saar

Betye Saar is an African American visual artist who was part of the Black Arts movement in the 1970s. Her highly political artworks explore racism against Black people in America. In Saar’s interview, “Magic #2,”… read analysis of Betye Saar

Anonymous Female Student

Smith interviews an anonymous female student enrolled at University of Southern California. The student’s monologue begins with a memory of her and her sorority sisters fearing for their lives during the 1992 Los Angeles riots… read analysis of Anonymous Female Student

Dean Gilmour

Dean Gilmour, Lieutenant, serves as the Los Angeles County Coroner. In a rambling interview, he talks about the difficulty of locating human remains in the rubble left behind in the aftermath of the riot. He… read analysis of Dean Gilmour

Julio Menjivar

Julio Menjivar is a lumber salesman and driver from El Salvador. In his interview, he recalls watching indifferent police officers laugh and jeer at the protestors destroying his neighborhood. He describes how the National Guard… read analysis of Julio Menjivar

Harland W. Braun

Harland W. Braun was Officer Theodore J. Briseno’s counsel for his federal trial, where Briseno was tried and acquitted of violating Rodney King’s civil rights. In his interview, “Screw Through Your Chest,” Braun… read analysis of Harland W. Braun

Officer Theodore J. Briseno

Officer Theodore J. Briseno was one of four Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney King beating. In their federal trial, Briseno and Officer Timothy E. Wind were acquitted of their charges, while Sergeant… read analysis of Officer Theodore J. Briseno

Officer Timothy E. Wind

Officer Timothy E. Wind was one of four Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney King beating. In their federal trial, Wind and Officer Theodore J. Briseno were acquitted of their charges, while Sergeant… read analysis of Officer Timothy E. Wind

Sergeant Stacey C. Koon

Sergeant Stacey C. Koon was one of the four Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney King beating. On April 17, 1992, during the federal King civil rights trial, the jury found Sergeant Koon… read analysis of Sergeant Stacey C. Koon

Officer Lawrence M. Powell

Lawrence M. Powell was one of the four Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney King beating. On April 17, 1992, during the federal King civil rights trial, the jury found Officer Powell and… read analysis of Officer Lawrence M. Powell

Otis Chandler

Otis Chandler is a director of the Times Mirror Company and former editor of the Los Angeles Times. In his interview, he expresses a certain hopelessness about the riots’ ability to meaningfully change the… read analysis of Otis Chandler

Mrs. Young Soon Han

Mrs. Young Soon Han is a Korean American woman and former owner of a liquor store. In her interview, “Swallowing the Bitterness,” she talks about how becoming a victim of the Los Angeles riots (she… read analysis of Mrs. Young Soon Han

Gladis Sibrian

Gladis Sibrian was a nun who fled El Salvador during its bloody civil war. At the time of her interview with Smith, she works as a director and speaks on behalf of the Farabundo… read analysis of Gladis Sibrian

Minor Characters

Chris Oh

Chris Oh is a medical student, the son of June Park, and the stepson of Walter Park, who was shot in the head at a traffic light during protests and forced to undergo a partial lobectomy. Oh describes his stepfather’s shooting as “execution style.”

Chung Lee

Chung Lee is the president of the Korean American Victims Association. He describes a phone call in which his neighbor informed him that his store was being looted and, later, set on fire. Lee recalls deciding “to give up / any sense of attachment to [his] possessions.”

Richard Kim

Richard Kim is an appliance store owner whose business was situated in South-Central Los Angeles, where much of the rioting took place. He recalls witnessing chaos and gunfire in the streets, describing the situation as “like going to war.”

Owen Smet

Owen Smet works for the Culver City Police Department. He’s also a former range manager for the Beverly Hills Gun Club. In his interview, Smet discusses how business skyrocketed at the gun club after the riots, exemplifying how the riots frightened LA’s white population.

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Characters