Anna Deavere Smith and director Gregg T. Daniel revisit the writer/performer's groundbreaking solo documentary theater piece, retrofitted for a cast of five, in a new production at the Mark Taper Forum.
Written by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, published in 2022 by Footnote Press, Between Starshine and Clay is a composition of encounters with 11 living and 1 deceased titan of modern history.
i asked if he was worried the movie would not appeal to a broad audience. if it s good enough, people are going to come. the minute black artists start thinking about crossover, they start diluting the work, watering it down, and the work suffers. when we look at the john singletons and the spikes, all the way across the board, this became the era where we took charge of our own culture, our own cultural icons, and telling our own stories expressed either in music or in theater or in cinema. in los angeles, one woman is stirring memories and trying to bring about an understanding of the events that tore that city apart a little more than a year ago. her name is anna devear smith. and she has taken the riot and turned it into theater. twilight bay, that s my name. twilight is one of 26 people deavere smith becomes in this one woman tour de force. that was the mexicans over there. that wasn t us.