Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. West, Cornel

Description

1. lx, 141 p. : ill.; 20 cm.

Summary

1. Smith's off-Broadway play is as much a commentary on current racial tensions as it is a work of drama. Award-winning writer and solo performer Smith derived her scripts from interviews with people who experienced or observed New York's 1991 Crown Heights racial riots.
2. "Derived from interviews with a wide range of people who experienced or observed New York's 1991 Crown Heights racial riots, Fires In The Mirror is as distinguished a work of commentary on black-white tensions as it is a work of drama. In August 1991 simmering tensions in the racially polarized Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Crown Heights exploded into riots after a black boy was killed by a car in a rabbi's motorcade and a Jewish student was slain by blacks in retaliation. Fires in the Mirror is dramatist Anna Deavere Smith's stunning exploration of the events and emotions leading up to and following the Crown Heights conflict. Through her portrayals of more than two dozen Crown eights adversaries, victims, and eyewitnesses, using verbatim excerpts from their observations derived from interviews she conducted, Smith provides a brilliant, Rashoman-like documentary portrait of contemporary ethnic turmoil."--Publisher's description.

Subject

1. scripts (documents)
2. Plays (Performed Works)
3. Monologues (Drama)
4. Verbatim theater
5. Drama
6. History
7. 1900-1999
8. New York (N.Y.) > Race relations > Drama
9. Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.) > History > Drama
10. Jews > New York (State) > New York > Drama
11. African Americans > New York (State) > New York > Drama
12. Violence > New York (State) > New York > History > 20th century > Drama

Genre/Form

1. Verbatim theater
2. Monologues (Drama)
3. History
4. Drama
5. Plays (Performed Works)
6. scripts (documents)

Contents

1. Foreword / Cornel West -- Introduction -- Crown Heights conflict: Background information -- Crown Heights, Brooklyn: Chronology -- Characters -- Production history -- Fires in the Mirror: Identity: Desert / Ntozake Shange -- Static / Anonymous Lubavitcher Woman -- 101 Dalmatians / George C. Wolfe -- Mirrors: Mirrors and Distortions / Aaron M. Bernstein -- Hair: Look in the Mirror / Anonymous Girl -- Me and James's Thing / Reverend Al Sharpton -- Wigs / Rivkah Siegal -- Race: Rope / Angela Davis -- Rhythm: Rhythm and Poetry / Monique "Big Mo" Matthews -- Seven verses: Roots / Leonard Jeffries -- Near Enough to Reach / Letty Cottin Pogrebin -- Seven Verses / Minister Conrad Mohammed -- Isaac / Lette Cottin Pogrebin -- Lousy Language / Robert Sherman -- Crown Heights, Brooklyn, August 1991: No blood in His feet / Rabbi Joseph Spielman -- Mexican Standoff / Reverend Canon Doctor Heron Sam -- Wa Wa Wa / Anonymous Young Man #1 -- "Heil Hitler" / Michael S. Miller -- Knew How to Use Certain Words / Henry Rice -- My Brother's Blood / Norman Rosenbaum -- Sixteen Hours Difference / Norman Rosenbaum -- Bad Boy / Anonymous Young Man #2 -- Chords / Sonny Carson -- Ovens / Rabbi Shea Hecht -- Rain / Reverend Al Sharpton -- Rage / Richard Green -- Coup / Roslyn Malamud -- Pogroms / Reuven Ostrov -- Lingering / Carmel Cato.

Owning institution

1. Harvard Library

Note

1. Material for the book was taken from interviews conducted by the author and used in stage production at the New York Shakespeare festival in New York City which opened on May 12, 1992.
2. An adopted version of the play was filmed by American Playhouse and released on video by PBS in 1993.

Processing action (note)

1. committed to retain