Racial tensions
The central focus of Fires in the Mirror is the resentment anger between two ethnic groups in the densely populated area of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York City: the Lubavitcher Orthodox Jewish community and the African-American community. The monologues refer to such historic events as The Holocaust of World War II and slavery history of the United States, defining periods for each ethnic group. In addition, they express the often-fraught relationships between the two ethnic groups and the police, as well as the perceptions of the relationships between each other.
Individual identity and attitudes
By showing many different points of view and opinions on the issue of the riot, the play highlights that there are not just two sides, divided by race, but rather many different individual attitudes, emotions, and opinions.
