Fires in the Mirror

By Anna Deavere Smith | Directed by Amy Kaissar What everyone agreed on: Two cars collided. One, driven by a Hasidic Jew, veered off the road and critically injured two Black children. A crowd formed. Police arrived. What no one agreed on: Anything else. In the summer of 1991, Crown Heights, NY exploded into three days of violence fed by rumors and competing narratives formed from incomplete facts. In the chaos, some saw anti-Black police bias. Others saw violent anti-Semitism. But playwright Anna Deavere Smith heard the honest voices of a divided national narrative. Join us for this remarkable play that features the real words of more than 50 people, interviewed immediately after the events, speaking honestly, the way we do in private. Let’s listen.