Fires in the Mirror

Epic Theatre Company begins their new season with "Fires in the Mirror," a blistering examination of racial tensions and the violence that often results when people don't take the time to understand each other.

Playwright Anna Deavere Smith depicts the aftermath of the riots that raged in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1991. The riots began after two children of Guyanese immigrants were accidentally struck by one of the cars in the motorcade of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of Chabad, a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured.

Some black youths vented their anger by attacking several Jews on the street, seriously injuring several and fatally injuring one.

Director Kevin Broccoli has assembled a terrific group of actors to bring the story to life, which is told in a series of monologues. The action is staged in Artist Exchange's black box theater with only chairs and benches on a bare stage.

"Fires In The Mirror" features moments of intense drama as the diverse inhabitants of this neighborhood express their fears, frustration, and anger at the injustice all around them.

Angelique Dina ("The Revolutionists") is fiery and passionate when the Reverend Al Sharpton launches a quest for justice.

Jeffrey Ouellette ("The Secret Garden) delivers a virtuoso monologue as Rabbi Joseph Spielman, who recounts the horrific nature of the violence.

Nancy Winokoor is also effective as a Jewish woman who reads a chilling passage from a book detailing atrocities committed during the Holocaust.

Another excellent performance is by Jackie Aguirre as the grieving mother of the boy who was hit and killed by the Jewish driver.

We meet the feisty Monique (Krystal Hall), a musician who blasts misogynistic rap lyrics; Leonard Jeffries (Javier Aybar), a professor who claimed Jewish businessmen financed the slave trade, and Norman Rosenbaum (Rebecca Maxfield), the brother of a murdered Jewish student.

Smith doesn't take sides in her writing. We see the same event from multiple perspectives and are left to draw our own conclusions. Who was responsible for this tragedy? Did New York City police give preferential treatment to the Jewish community? Is the oppression of one minority group allowed to overshadow the oppression of another? Who gets to tell their own stories?

"Fires in the Mirror" was written in 1992 as a solo piece for Ms. Deavere Smith; here expanded into an ensemble piece, it remains enormously relevant, holding up a mirror to a society which seems to be fracturing a little bit more each day. We have a President who is endorsed by white nationalists. There are massive raids by federal agents who separate children from their families and imprison them in cages, and an escalating number of mass shootings and hate crimes.

The play ends with a light being turned off and the stage plunged into darkness. It serves as an apt metaphor for the world we are now living in.

"Fires in the Mirror" runs through September 28. Epic Theatre Company. Artists' Exchange – Black Box Theatre, 50 Rolfe Square, Cranston, RI. For tickets, go to www.artists-exchange.org or www.epictheatreri.org.