Fires in the Mirror

There is no way around the fact that if you cut out the monologues from this play you're essentially cutting out the very soul of the play itself. I can understand that it's easy to disassociate oneself from the individual monologues especially if you can't relate to them on a personal level in any way. I'll even entertain the notion that sometimes production/time restraints sometimes elements of the play have to be cut. I'm afraid these separations from personal investment do not justify stripping this play of it's soul. I say this because the monologues are what establish a steady tempo early on in the play, they set the overall tone of the by adding representation of the two distinct races involved in the later mentioned riots letting us delve further into their psyche and further providing insight into the racial prejudices that plague them. So, all that being said, not only are these monologues important for their part in grounding the play and setting the tone they even further enhance the play due to the fact that they are all given by a single actress. This play is a tour de force for any individual to perform. It's a play that is taylormade to be presented by an individual and it's in that performance that so much of the heart of the play is invested in. If you were to take away the majority of the monologues there is no doubt in my mind that the play would suffer overall because the impact will be lessened due to the fact that it would become more of a documentary instead of a play. I would suggest that if it is absolutely necessary to cut down the monologues then it should be more a condensing of the monologues instead. That is to say that, the monologues could just be edited down a bit in order to save some time and perhaps whittle down a few of the lesser impactful moments. Again, I strongly disagree with the idea of cutting any of the monologues because I really believe that it would have a profound negative impact on the play.