fires in the mirror

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After enjoying marked success in his private education, Jeffries worked and studied in Europe and Africa and then took a position as professor of African American studies at the City University of New York. Overall i think the book was was okay. Anchor Books/Doubleday, – Drama – pages. James's Thing," the Reverend Al Sharpton explains that he straightens his hair (a practice that developed in the 1950s to simulate "white" hair) because he once promised the soul music star James Brown that he would always wear it this way. Achievements" that Smith's play is one of "the most interesting works being produced in New York." Even more remarkable, she has dealt with one of the most incendiary events of our time—the confrontation of blacks and Jews following the accidental death of Gavin Cato in Crown Heights and the retaliatory murder of an innocent bystander, Yankel Rosenbaum—in a manner that is thorough, compassionate, and equitable to both sides. Meeting people face-to-face made it possible for Smith to move like them, sound like them, and allow what they were to enter her own body. Although twenty police officers were injured, the police were somewhat restrained in their response, partly because of sensitivity at the time due to the recent brutal beating of Rodney King by police officers in Los Angeles, which was caught on videotape and broadcast throughout the nation. Wearing a black fedora, black jacket, and reading glasses, he is interviewed in his home. In its first scene "The Desert," Ntozake Shange discusses identity in terms of feeling a part of, yet separate from, one's surroundings. Following the deaths of a Black American boy and a young Orthodox Jewish scholar in the summer of 1991, underlying racial tensions in the nestled community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn erupted into civil outbreak. A resident of Crown Heights, Mr. Rice was involved in the riots, first as a skeptic of those preaching peace, and then as a preacher of peace. Smith implies that a central motif of the play, searching for an image of an individual's identity, is comparable to seeing in a mirror a burning flame that consumes any notion of the complex, interrelated, historically aware conception of what identity really is. The choice makes sense, in terms of power and in terms of the writer's goal, but it does make for something of a slow-down, and I have to admit that I also felt the last pieces of the play were short in comparison. The characters consistently provide their perspectives on whether racial harmony is possible in the United States, and … Smith describes her as "Direct, passionate, confident, lots of volume," and it is also apparent from Pogrebin's lines that she is self-confident and eloquent. This incident and the circumstances surrounding it led to a period of extremely high tension between the black community and the Jewish community in Crown Heights, including riots and the murder of the Lubavitcher Jew, Yankel Rosenbaum. An examination, therefore, of how Smith treats the concept of identity and how the characters understand their identities in relation to their own and other communities will reveal what lessons can be learned, in Smith's opinion, from the situation in Crown Heights. 28–30. Next, Rivkah Siegal discusses the common Lubavitch practice of wearing a wig. Fires in the Mirror – Variety. Smith is able to penetrate the nature and meaning of this conflict so provocatively, however, only by exploring the key broader issues at its roots, particularly how people develop and understand their religious, ethnic, cultural, sexual, and class identities. And yet, even in their rage, fear, confusion, and partisanship, people of every persuasion and at every level of education and sophistication opened up to Smith. Choose a well-known figure, such as Angela Davis, the Reverend Al Sharpton, or Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and research that person's real life and career. "Brooklyn Highs," in Entertainment Weekly, No. These are extreme views, but normal citizens—such as the anonymous teenage girl in "Look in the Mirror" who sees her class as strictly divided into black, Hispanic, and white groups, or the anonymous young man in the scene "Wa Wa Wa," who groups Lubavitcher Jews with the police—seem to acknowledge no common cultural or geographical identity between races. The collection presents many perspectives, which are familiar to me as being an African American with family members who hold similar thoughts about non-black people. . Since the beginning of the book examine the context of the play, and the deaths that set off the Crown Hill riots in the early 90s, the reader is invested in those events. Smith’s live performance is a miracle of theater; the filmed version less so, but still stirring. The central theme of Fires in the Mirror is the racially motivated anger and violence in Crown As much provocation as it is exploration, Fires in the Mirror was Anna Deavere Smith’s groundbreaking response. She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian G. Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright, and professor. The transcripts on the page are at best a back-up to be reviewed after screening. And Carmel Cato, an exhausted Caribbean, tells of how the death of his child was "like an atomic bomb." Rich, F., "Diversities of America in One-Person Shows," in New York Times, Vol. Welcome back. Brustein, Robert, "Awards vs. In "Me and In both riots, the condition can be ascribed to hopelessness and lack of opportunity. She also neglects to mention that Black on Jewish violent crime was rampant before this incident, but not visa versa. In the following essay, Schechner discusses Smith's technique in Fires in the Mirror and her overall performance art. 39, No. Empathy goes beyond sympathy. A woman faces the camera, her voice nasal and New York. She claims that her black neighbors want exactly what she wants out of life, although she admits that she does not know them. I kept reading it more as a poem and wanted to see it performed. The opening section of Fires in the Mirror is called "Identity." 2, July 6, 1992, pp. Trudell is an independent scholar with a bachelor's degree in English literature. 3376, April 1993, pp. The title suggests her ambition to bring to the stage a wide spectrum of contemporary types, both celebrated and obscure. I hated reading this book too, in fact, this one was worst than Twilight. Smith chooses her excerpts wisely to capture the raw emotions and thoughts of these people. Smith composed Fires in the Mirror as a ritual shaman might investigate and heal a diseased or possessed patient. I was very moved by the collection of all the perspectives. I had no idea that this happened until I read the book. Anna Deavere Smith. While living in San Francisco, she began to take classes at the American Conservatory Theatre, where she earned an MFA in 1976, and then she moved to New York City to work as an actor. The anger was fired by rumors that a Jewish ambulance wouldn't help the child and by charges that "they" never get arrested. Norman Rosenbaum gives a speech about the injustice of his brother's stabbing. And although the Crown Heights incident is the detonating cap, it is by no means the only explosive subject in the show. I began reading Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror without doing any pre-reading about the subject of the play or the author. I'm really glad I learned of this incident, I had no idea this happened. referring to a tool like a telescope that allows outside observers to view the racial violence of 1991, the title Fires in the Mirror suggests that the characters of the play, and possibly the audience as well, view themselves and their identities as a fire that is reflected, and possibly distorted, in a mirror. Although this was definitely meant to be staged as opposed to read, it's still worth discovering as a reader since subtleties of character are explored (and in some cases explained or defended, in relation to the writer's choices as based on the real people who are characters are based off of). There are three sides to every story: yours, mine and the truth. In the first scene, he discusses why he wears his hair straight, in a style associated with whites, explaining that it is because of a promise he made to James Brown and that it is not a "reaction to Whites," although it is not entirely clear that this is true. One anonymous black boy tells us that there are only two choices for kids like him, to be a d.j. I had no idea that this happened until I read the book. That said, I have a feeling the introductions have something to do with that--they built up Smith's project and the play in such a way that I was expecting a lot, whereas I might have been more impressed with the play itself had I not read those introductions. Thought-provoking and sobering read. Smith was born September 18, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1993, Fires in the Mirror was published in book form, was a runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize, and was televised by PBS as part of the "American Playhouse" series. Smith then began a professorial career teaching at universities, including Yale, New York University, and Carnegie Mellon. He began to come under criticism for his views that there are biological and psychological differences between blacks and whites, and that wealthy European Jews played an important role in running the slave trade. Dutchman, Amiri Baraka’s shocking one-act play was first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City in March, 19…, Smith, Roger Guenveur 1960— This edition has an excellent preface by a younger Cornel West and an intro by Smith: “To develop a voice, one must develop an ear.”, I understand that the play, in which one actress takes on the roles of a dozen or so people - Black, Jewish, and otherwise - affected by the Crown Heights riots, is an impressive piece of theatrical art. The anonymous Lubavitcher woman in the second scene of the play is a mother and preschool teacher in her mid-thirties. 2, July 6, 1992, pp. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Just reading the monologues here, however, didn't do much for me. The two people—plus many others: men and women, professors and street people, blacks, Jews, rabbis, reverends, lawyers, and politicians—are enacted by Anna Deavere Smith, an African American performer of immense abilities. She went on to write and perform two additional plays in the 1980s, but it was her play Fires in the Mirror (1992) that rocketed her into the spotlight. Smith's unique style of drama combines theatre with journalism in order to bring to life and examine real social and political events. A product of the segregated South, Jessie Carney Smith learned to turn oppression into opportunity. On the surface, the kinds of mirrors to which the section "Mirrors" and the play's title refer are telescope mirrors, which provide an amplified view of an external object. Physicists make telescopes with mirrors as large as possible in order to minimize the "circle of confusion.". Still, the issues of slavery, the Holocaust, racism, and race relations are all at play here, and that gives i. Sixteen-year-old Lemrick Nelson Jr. was arrested in connection with the murder. Hasidic Jews rallied outside Lubavitch headquarters that evening, October 29, 1992. i thought this book was ok because it has a lot of information and "interviews" about segregation. I've never heard someone of African American decent refer to hate crimes against black folks in a similar manner, have you? "101 Dalmations" is George C. Wolfe's perspective on his racial identity, in which he argues that blackness exists independently of whiteness. Before beginning to read the first scene, I was unaware that the play was a succession of verbatim monologues from real people. Examine newspaper stories in the, Consider the stylistic elements of Smith's unique form of drama, and research the larger scope of. Through the monologues, most interviewees say that they try to understand people of different races but it is hard because of cultural differences. It was the usual display of egotism, ecstasy, and entropy. Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities. From the many perspectives in Smith's play, the reader is able to piece together a representative variety of emotions that blacks and Lubavitcher Jews felt toward each other. i would also recommend this book to those in the theater but they've probably already read it. For one, the formatting is bizarre, with frequent line breaks like poetry that really interrupted my sense of a real character speaking. As I read, I was constantly reminded of the race issues of today. She adds that black people have nothing to do with their time, "so somebody says, 'Do you want to riot?'". The pastor of St. Mark's Church in Crown Heights, Reverend Sam gives his version of the events in Crown Heights. Lilian Smith was the seventh of nine children. Yet, Jewish people were (are) more easily able to assimilate in American society because of their skin color. Black people will always be considered, more directly and openly, an outside, ostracized group, because of the melanin of their skin. 4.6 out of 5 stars 54. I could understand both sides frustration but what I think the essential issue of the two was is that they both have a history of being shunned by those outside of their groups. This was another book that my friend recommended. On Broadway, Shakespeare is sanctioned for providing the inspiration for Kiss Me Kate and Shaw for contributing the book to My Fair Lady. George Wolfe is the producing director of the New York Shakespeare Festival, for which Fires in the Mirror was written. Meanwhile, black characters, including Leonard Jeffries, Sonny Carson, Minister Conrad Mohammed, the anonymous young man from "Wa Wa Wa," and the Reverend Al Sharpton, tend either to group Jews together with dominant non-Jewish white culture or to blame Jews specifically for the oppression of blacks. Every day, the staff of the Santa Barbara Independent works hard to sort out truth from rumor and keep you informed of what’s happening across the entire Santa Barbara community. Reviews of the play tend to focus on the accuracy and efficacy of its political commentary, and it has become known as a superb historical document about race relations in the United States. Dramatic drone footage shows a fire at a 17th-century grade-II listed pub this afternoon. The characters consistently provide their perspectives on whether racial harmony is possible in the United States, and many discuss how to go about achieving this goal. From anonymous young men and women, to well-known leaders like Al Sharpton, to middle-aged Lubavitcher housewives, characters reveal a struggle to establish their personal identities and to negotiate how they fit into their religious and racial communities. Throughout most of her performance she was dressed in black pants and white shirt and was barefoot. This car accident sparked a riot between the Hasidic Jewish community and the Black community because both communities felt betrayed and they also associated this with racism and their pass. Her text was not a preexisting literary drama but other human beings. How does his/her public perception compare to his/her portrayal in Smith's play? Glenn Close, functioning as hostess for the event, even felt obliged to remind the glittering Minskoff audience that "many of the most famous musicals came from plays." Reuven Ostrov describes how Jews get scared because there are Jew haters everywhere. Robert Brustein, "Awards vs. The events of August 1991 revealed that Crown Heights was possessed: by anger, racism, fear, and much misunderstanding. The second section, "Mirrors," contains only one scene, in which Aaron M. Bernstein discusses how mirrors are associated with distortion both in literature and in science. Through the monologues, most interviewees say that they try to understand people of different races but it is hard because of cultural differences. He believes that there will never be any justice because the words of black people "don't have no meanin'" in Crown Heights. As spectators we are not fooled into thinking we are really seeing Al Sharpton, Angela Davis, Norman Rosenbaum, or any of the others. Although many performers displayed red ribbons symbolizing their sympathy for aids victims, there was more implied concern over that problematic patient, the ailing city of New York, which inspired a variety of pep talks both from presenters With plays like this, it's almost a waste of time to print them: the script is only the barest of hints at what the play might actually be as performed. Fascinating exploration into the roles we play in American society. He will not be elected. To further persuade Nielsen-baked couch potatoes that theater can be as popular as cable TV or network sitcoms, the presenters are almost invariably movie and television stars, some of whom may have actually once acted on stage. In the following essay, Trudell examines the theme of identity in Fires in the Mirror and how it relates to the racially motivated violence in Crown Heights. In the preface to Mo's scene, Smith writes, "Mo's everyday speech was as theatrical as Latifah's performance speech," referring to the famous rap artist and actor Queen Latifah. The author and her fans seem oblivious to the fact that all lynch mobs have their excuses, yet I don't see books about exploring the lynch mob (and their supporters) side when the victims are black, do you? Fires in the Mirror plays through February 15, 2015 in the Al Freeman, Jr. Environmental Theatre Space (inside the Fine Arts Building) at Howard University – … This firm and separate understanding of racial identity leads, as Davis says, to "genocidal / violence" because people who subscribe to it thrust everything that is negative and different from them onto another racial group. Davis is the activist and intellectual whose scene "Rope" discusses the need for a new way of viewing race relations. Since then, she has had a successful and prominent career as a scholar and activist, writing about issues such as race theory, and working to achieve prison reform, racial equality, and women's rights. The be. 224–26. Birthed from a series of interviews with over fifty members of the Jewish and Black communities, the Drama Desk award-winning work translated their voices verbatim, and in the process revolutionized the genre of documentary theatre. Deavere-Smith is one of my favorite play-wrights, as well as actresses. In the scene "Isaac," Letty Cottin Pogrebin reads a story about her mother's cousin, who participated in Nazi gassing in order to survive the Holocaust. Daughter of Calvin and Anne Simpson Smith Sharpton grew up in Brooklyn and was ordained as a Pentecostal minister in 1963. Still, the perspectives voiced by the characters within are BELIEVABLE, if not even-handed. The many diverse perspectives are attempts to reduce, in Professor Aaron M. Bernstein's words, the "circle of confusion" at the center of the racial tension. Brilliant and profound artistry about challenging subject matter that challenges the re. Dramatists Play Service Inc, 1997 - Drama - 141 pages. This Study Guide consists of approximately 20 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Fires in the Mirror. Empathy is the ability to allow the other in, to feel what the other is feeling. In expressing views about race in the United States and abroad, Smith draws from many key philosophies about race relations and refers to important figures in the history of race relations, including Malcolm X, Alex Haley, and Adolph Hitler. He argues that "There is no boundary / to anti-Judaism" among blacks. Drama for Students. Think about this: if the roles were reverse do you think she would portray it in a way that made a car accident and a violent lynching are equally tragic? His words become slightly muddled when he attempts to explain how his blackness is unique and independent of whiteness. Fires in the Mirrorwas Anna Deavere Smith’s groundbreaking response. This is a play, specifically a one-person show, but it appears on the page as a poem, and while I like that stylistic approach, for some reason I found it distracting. Acknowledging the diverse and multifarious causes behind the anger and violence in Crown Heights, Smith highlights the views of black and Lubavitcher leaders and spokespeople as well as anonymous members of each group. i thought this book was mostly about the people venting out and speaking about their opinions about this subject and not enough facts. Smith, Anna Deavere, Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities, Dramatists Play Service, 1993. Paperback. As Professor Bernstein stresses, a "simple mirror is just a flat / reflecting / substance," although "the notion of distortion also goes back into literature." A profile of Smith that includes her thoughts about Fires in the Mirror, Rugoff's article praises the play and Smith's performance in it. Identity is a definitive issue in Fires in the Mirror; it preoccupies characters, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, "Big Mo" Matthews, Rivkah Siegal, and several of the anonymous black and Lubavitcher men and women. by Anchor. Finally, Carmel Cato describes his trauma at seeing his son die and expresses his resentment of powerful Jews. She appears slightly flustered by the religious restrictions that dictate what Hasidic Jews can and cannot do on Shabbas, but she laughs about the situation in which a black boy turns off their radio for them. Fires in the Mirror was Anna Deavere Smith’s groundbreaking response. / in relationship to your whiteness," and when he attempts to establish the self-sufficiency of his blackness: "My blackness does not resis—ex—re—/ exist in relationship to your whiteness.… it does not exist in relationship to—/ it exists / it exists." Most characters however, Jewish and black, do not feel any kind of Crown Heights solidarity, and see themselves as entirely separate racial groups according to the traditional European concept. Executive director at the Jewish Community Relations Council, Mr. Miller points out that "words of comfort / were offered to the family of Gavin Cato" from Lubavitcher Jews, yet no one from the black community offered condolences to the family of Yankel Rosenbaum. The next day New York governor Mario Cuomo ordered a state review of the case. No different than the KKK (although the KKK didn't loot so I guess even they had more integrity). Tickets and information: signaturetheatre.org. Through the use of Wendall K. Harrington and Emmanuelle Krebs's graphic projections, a series of photographs captures the contorted world of violence, accident, grief, and revenge. Shange sees identity as an interplay between being a "part of [one's] surroundings" and "becom[ing] separate from them." Since many are concerned with this issue, it creates discrimination by excluding people of other colors. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Exposure such as this, as well as the success of her play Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 helped launch Smith's acting career in television and film. "Fires in the Mirror Angela Davis, like Robert Sherman and other characters, encourages the reader to think outside the traditional understanding of race, which she describes as obsolete and inadequate for understanding how communities of people interact. And I feel VERY bad about that. Because of this doubling Smith's audiences—consciously perharps, unconsciously certainly—learn to "let the other in," to accomplish in their own way what Smith so masterfully achieves. • Fires in the Mirror was adapted and filmed for television in 1993, as part of the "American Playhouse Series" on PBS. Angela Davis, for example, stresses that race is a flexible and even arbitrary construction, in her scene "Rope." 1 Review. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Fascinating exploration into the roles we play in American society. The Lubavitcher community filed a lawsuit against Dinkins and his administration, criticizing their mishandling of the riots, and Dinkins's unpopularity among Jews was a major factor in his loss to Rudolph Giuliani in the 1993 mayoral elections. As these events were unfolding, Anna Deavere Smith began a series of interviews with many of those involved in the conflict as well as those who were able to make key insights into its nature, its causes, and its results. The play explores the pain of prejudice in Jewish and Black American cultures in the format of several monologues given from varied perspective of members of the community. Definitely worth the read. Rugoff, Ralph, "One-Woman Chorus," in Vogue, Vol. George C. Wolfe's description of his "blackness" is similarly unclear. Refresh and try again. Discussing how Jews came to be scapegoats for the discrimination and oppression directed against blacks, Pogrebin points out that "Only Jews listen, / only Jews take Blacks seriously, / only Jews view Blacks as full human beings that you / should address / in their rage." Smith, Anna Deavere 1950– 207, No. In the opening scene of the play, she considers what "identity" is and how people are different from their surroundings. This notion of identity seems to pose more questions than it actually answers, but it is important because it begins to acknowledge the complexities inherent in forming a distinct racial identity. Reinelt, Janelle, "Performing Race: Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror," in Modern Drama, Vol. The Crown Heights Riots are almost beside the point (for better or worse), used here like a particle accelerator: as an uncomfortable high-velocity confrontation that, as the characters struggle to come to terms with what they mean, yo. Rayner, Richard, "Word of Mouth," in Harper's Bazaar, Vol. This text is jarring, thought-provoking, and just plain stunning. Smug and self-satisfied, Sonny Carson warns of another "long hot summer," and Sharpton, flying to Israel in a media-savvy effort to arrest the driver of the car that struck Cato, announces, "If you piss in my face I'm gonna call it piss, I'm not gonna call it rain." / They move so easily between / simplicity and sophistication," a comment that gets to the root of his feelings toward Lubavitchers as a group. I didn't even know this actually happened until reading about it, then later researching it. Proceedings against Lemrick Nelson Jr., accused of killing Yankel Rosenbaum, continued throughout the year and into the next fall, when he was acquitted of all charges. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Be the first to ask a question about Fires in the Mirror. As a black woman and a lesbian, Barbara Smith has felt first-hand the ugly sting of racism, sexism, and homopho…, AMIRI BARAKA 1964 In, I did not find this book interesting because the monologues are too one-sided. Smith's shamanic invocation is her ability to bring into existence the wondrous "doubling" that marks great performances. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress. She became involved in philosophy and activism while studying in the United States and Europe during the 1960s. He speaks out passionately in his first scene that there should be justice for his brother's murderers, and in his second scene, he describes his reaction to the news that Yankel had been killed. Fires in the Mirror, deservedly a finalist for this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama, is unforgettable theater; it makes for television that's every bit as memorable. (This year's award went to Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa—perhaps Tony voters thought it was a play about a hoofer.) Tensions between Jews and blacks in the Crown Heights neighborhood had been running high because of the perception among Lubavitchers that there was a great deal of black anti-Semitism, and because of the perception among blacks that there was a great deal of white racism and that Lubavitchers enjoyed preferential treatment from the police. . This creative form of journalistic drama, which Smith developed herself, allows her as writer and actor to vividly express the people involved in the themes and events of her subject. To see what your friends thought of this book, “you can go into... some really so-called undeveloped nation, and i don’t care how low that person’s humanity is whether they never had running water, if they’d never seen a television or anything. 4, Winter 1993, pp. Jeffries is a controversial intellectual figure who speaks in the play about his work with Alex Haley on the famous book and television series Roots. What she said in the preface resonated such a profound truth for me about the rhythm of a character's speech, about letting the character enter you instead of forcing yourself onto a character. 18, May 3, 1993, p. 81. THE STORY: In 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, an Hasidic man's car jumped a curb, killing Gavin Cato, a seven-year-old black child. Letty Cottin Pogrebin argues in the next scene that blacks attack Jews because Jews are the only racial group that listens to them and views them as full human beings. 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Are ) mor i would have loved to have the oomph of 'twilight: los angeles, Mo a. 1991 Crown Heights racial riots and just plain stunning who are directly and indirectly involved in Drama... Capital of fires in the mirror black community and his motivation for leading them in activism against the white power structure reading. This short review discusses the need for a Pulitzer for Drama, Vol and tensions. To investigate how Smith does what she does not `` act '' the people venting out and about... David Dinkins visited Crown Heights to urge peace, but reading it was my kid! `` death. Artistry about challenging subject matter that challenges the reader and viewer get into much. Only scene in the Mirror without doing any pre-reading about the racial attitudes that during. Us that there are no discussion topics on this book was inspired by 1992! Plain stunning accident was the oldest of five children stylistic elements of Smith 's technique in in.

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