Fires in the Mirror – Bristol Riverside Theatre

Many of my clients are theatre companies, so I see and shoot a lot of plays each year. I love this part of my job, because I enjoy seeing so many innovative and unique theatrical performances.

Bristol Riverside Theatre’s latest production, Fires in the Mirror, is one of those productions that affected me on a deeper level. The setting is Crown Heights, NY in the summer of 1991. That summer, a Hasidic Jewish man driving a car was in a collision with another vehicle. His car left the road and struck two Black children, one of whom died. That alone is gut-wrenching, but the fallout from this horrific situation is what led playwright Anna Deavere Smith to write this play.

After the incident, no one could agree on the narrative. What exactly happened after the crash? Who saw what and what it all meant became a flashpoint at that moment in time leading to riotsand thrusting a community into chaos. Smith decided to interview witnesses, community members, and others to try to make sense of the situation.

The result is Fires in the Mirror, which features the real words of 26 people connected to the incident both directly and indirectly. Smith originally performed the play herself, one solo production in her series, On the Road: A Search for the American Character. Smith’s plays have been called “groundbreaking,” because of how she weaves the text for these documentary-style productions from interviews she has conducted. All quotes are real and interpreted on stage through the voice of one actor.

Bristol Riverside Theatre’s production features Phyllis Johnson who portrays all of the people. While it can be challenging to film a one-person production, BRT and Johnson make the stories come alive. The show is gritty and gripping and will make you wonder about what is fact or truth. The show runs through February 23.