When Michael Travis, Calvin's Director of Multicultural Student Development, first saw the play "Fires in the Mirror" he had a vision that has now come full circle.

"From the night I saw it, I knew I wanted to perform in it or direct it," said Travis, who has been acting for 11 years.

In November, Travis, a Muskegon native, saw that desire fulfilled. His Calvin College Multicultural Drama Troupe performed "Fires in the Mirror" on November 18 and 19 in the Lab Theatre at Calvin.

"Fires in the Mirror" was written by Anna Deavere Smith. The play traces the 1991 riots in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood following a car accident (in which a Hasidic man's car jumps a curb and kills a seven year old Black child) and a stabbing (in what appears to be an act of retaliation on the part of a faction of the Black community).

"The riots," said Travis, "made national headlines and pointed to the growing infraction of racial and cultural relations across America."

The play, which draws verbatim from a series of over 50 interviews with Crown Heights residents, politicians, activists, religious leaders, gang members, street dwellers, victims and perpetrators alike, has earned much acclaim. It was the runner-up for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize and was broadcast on PBS as part of "The American Playhouse" series.

Travis hopes "Fires in the Mirror" will not only be a moving piece of theatre, but also a learning experience for both the cast and the audience. "One of my responsibilities at Calvin is to provide training in diversity and inclusion," he said. "The play really helps people realize the disparity between people of color and white people."

Student cast members felt changed by the play.

Grandville's Missy Kuiper played a Jewish woman she described as "scattered." She said the play has had a significant impact on her. "It (the play) reinstalled in me how much segregation drives me crazy," she said. "Seeing how people still wanted to turn their head after the child died, made [race issues] even more a part of my heart. Because it's a real life story, it made it much more effective. These were real people's lives."

Cast members hope that using the real-life events of the Crown heights riots will help people think about larger issues.

"The theme is underlying tensions between the races, regardless of the life that was lost," said Bartlett, Illinois native Derrell Jackson, who performed in last spring's production of George C. Wolfe's award-winning play, "The Colored Museum," also directed by Travis. "This play forces Calvin outside its comfort zone and it made people think."

--Sarah Potter

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