Performances began October 22 at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre for the company's revival of Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror. Saheem Ali directs the landmark documentary play, which was written in response to the 1991 riots that took place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Fires in the Mirror stars Michael Benjamin Washington (The Boys in the Band) and will officially open November 11.
Following the deaths of a Black American boy and a young Orthodox Jewish scholar in the summer of 1991, underlying racial tensions erupted into civil outbreak in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. Smith's Fires in the Mirror is the result of interviews with over 50 members of the Jewish and Black communities.
Flip through photos from the production below:
The creative team for the Signature production is made up of scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado, costume designer Dede M. Ayite, lighting designer Alan C. Edwards, sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman, projection designer Hannah Wasileski, and dialect coach Dawn-Elin Fraser. The production stage manager is Alfredo Macias, and casting is by Caparelliotis Casting.