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Anna Deavere Smith Discusses "Twilight."

Actress and Stanford Theater Professor, Anna Deavere Smith. She performs solo, multi-casted pieces, the scripts of which are transcripts of interviews with real participants of events. "Fires in the Mirrors" (aired on PBS) gave voice to the many facets of the Crown Heights riots. Her new show is "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992", which condenses 170 interviews Smith conducted herself into a two hour show ranging through the lives of 21 Los Angelenos: Darryl Gates, Reginald Denny, Rodney King's aunt, and a Korean shopkeeper (whose lines are spoken in perfect Korean and translated overhead).

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Other segments from the episode on July 7, 1993

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, July 7, 1993: Interview with Anna Deavere Smith; Interview with Susanna Kaysen; Review of Esther Freud's novel "Peerless Flats."

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21:20

Actress and Playwright Anna Deveare Smith.

Actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith. She’s best known for her one-woman plays based on hundreds of interviews she did with diverse people who experienced a crisis in their community. They include “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” about the Rodney King verdict, and “Fires in the Mirror” about the Crown Heights disturbances. Her most recent show “House Arrest” took her to Washington D.C.to interview politicians and pundits, and it involves a community not in crisis. Deveare Smith has also written a new memoir, “Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines” (Random House).

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