1. One of the key themes that Smith addresses throughout the play is the idea of difference. Work with your group to enumerate some of the many ways that the characters perform or exhibit their differences. What do you think Smith thinks about these differences? Do all of them matter, and if so how much? Further, how are these differences complicated by the fact that “Fires in the Mirror” is conceived as a one-woman show in which a single actor plays all of the roles?
2. One of the things I found most striking and interesting about this play is the language. Describe, in a few words, what the writing in this play is like. Why do you think that Smith chose to present her text in this manner?
3. Rather than being organized into acts or scenes like most of the plays we have read, “Fires in the Mirror” is organized as a series of monologues. Why do you think that Smith chose this organizational strategy? How is it appropriate to the events spoken about in the play? What might have been problematic about portraying these events as a more traditional psychological drama a la “A Doll’s House” or “The Glass Menagerie?”
4. Like “The Glass Menagerie,” “Fires in the Mirror” presents a heavily filtered perspective; that is, we do not see an (ostensibly) objective depiction of the main events of the play (that is, the car crash, its aftermath, and the riots), but rather we see those events through particular characters’ limited perspectives. Do you think that there is a definitive “truth” about the events that inspired the play? What do you think Smith thinks? Is finding this “truth” important? Why or why not?
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