SEATTLE-- In a departure from the original version of Anna Deavere Smith's Fires In The Mirror, opening May 2 at Center Stage, Seattle's professional Jewish Equity theatre, four actor's are playing the multiple roles, which were enacted solo by the author herself at the NY Shakespeare Festival in 1992.

Fires is Deavere Smith dramatization of interviews she did with people who were directly affected when, on Aug. 19, 1991 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a car in a rabbi's motorcade ran a stoplight, hit another car and swerved onto the sidewalk, killing Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old Carribean-American Boy. The dead child was left on the sidewalk, while a private Jewish ambulance tended to the driver and his passengers.

Three hours later, and a mere five blocks away, a 16 year old Trindadian American stabbed to death Yankel Rosenbaum, a visiting Australian Jewish scholar, in apparent retaliation.

Center Stage's Artistic Director Steven Alter, directs a cast including Leslie DoQui, Dawson Nichols, William Earl Ray, and Joanne Klein. By having a white woman play Al Sharpton, and a black woman play a Hasidic rabbi, the intention is to get beyond appearances and focus on the essence of the characters.

Performances start Sat. May 2 at 8 PM, and continue Thurs. , and Sun. evenings at 7:30 PM, Sat. evenings at 8 PM, and Sun. matinees at 2 PM at Center Stage, in the Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 E. Mercer Way, Mercer Island (10 minutes from downtown Seattle on I-90 E). For tickets ($ $15-$20) call (206) 706-4203. --David-Edward Hughes
Seattle Correspondent