Fires in the Mirror
Fires in the Mirror was written by Anna Deavere Smith. She performs this as a one woman show in which she plays every single part. Anna Deavere Smith was involved in researching the vocal style and speech patterns when the Crown Heights riots began. Most of the monologues in Fires in the Mirror revolve around the problems caused by race issues between Lubavitch people and blacks. The catalyst for the riots was the death of Gavin Cato, a young black boy who was run over by a Jewish man. Later that night a Jewish man named Yankel was murdered; many people thought it happened specifically because he was Jewish. The main characters in this production are Reverend Al Sharpton, Gavin Cato’s father, and Yankel’s brother. This play addresses not only race issues, but issues about how people relate to other people. Smith got to know the people she interviewed by studying their speech patterns, clothing, and habits.
posted by Rebecca @ 9:35 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I really like your analysis of this play, including detailed names of characters and the one performer. I found it interesting how much work Smith put into this play, especially how she had to study their speech patterns. I, for one, could not do that in a million years and I really admire this about her. While I was reading the play, I found it ironic that two most discriminated against groups in society, Jews and blacks, were rioting against each other. You'd think these two might band together to overcome all discrimination.
How do you think this play and The Vagina Monologue play relate or differ. And was one performance better than the other? I think that in both intenses the two playwrights where effective in what I believe their goals where, which was to spread awareness on a topic that was of importance to them.
I found this play so interesting because not only was it literally a firsthand account of the Jews and African Americans but it showed that there are two sides to every story. Often, if we were to take a minute and analyze the situation we can determine accidents from intentions. Fire in the Mirror could also be a formidable example of the dangers that can be caused when over generalizations are made.
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