Part of Black History Month is about not only looking at race issues of the past, but also looking squarely at the ones of the present. When racially charged tragedy strikes, as it did in the Crown Heights riots of 1991, people inevitably seek to understand how it could have happened.

At 7 tonight in HUB Heritage Hall, students will be given an opportunity to think about these issues when the Barak Repertory Theatre Company presents Fires in the Mirror, a dramatic recreation of the racial tension that led to violence between the black and Jewish communities of Crown Heights, a suburb of Brooklyn, N.Y. Wendell Murray, Barak director, said that the multicultural, interdenominational group of theater performers based in central Pennsylvania tries to deal with issues of social relevance.

"Our company sees the performance arts as a means of affecting social change in our community," Murray said.

Murray, who founded Barak in 1999, added that artistic mediums have a unique ability to bring such concerns to light.

"A lot of messages come through in entertainment, whether it's stage, music, or movies. It starts out when we're young children -- people plop us in front of the TV and we begin to learn certain things from it," he said, adding that the performing arts are "what we as a society use to communicate our hopes and dreams."

After the company's performance, there will be a panel discussion about race issues. The moderator of the discussion will be Terrell Jones, the vice-provost for educational equality at Penn State, who moderated a similar discussion last month following a production of Fires in the Mirror at the Penn State Harrisburg campus.

"The play ends up leaving you with more questions than answers," Jones said, "which is what we want: for people to realize the complexity of the issue."

"[Events like Fires in the Mirror] are a symptom of cultural conflict," he said. "They are predictable when you have people from different backgrounds with disproportionate power dynamics, and a lack of social justice."

Murray echoed Jones' assessment.

"Cultures not taking the time to understand each other leads to the degradation of communities," Murray said. Fires in the Mirror "is a good example of what happens when people don't take notice," he said.

He added that Penn State is an environment that would benefit from being exposed to these issues.

"We realize some of the difficulties that are here," Murray said. "Hopefully, people understand we're coming not just to entertain, but to educate."

About race relations at Penn State, Jones gave a measured response.

"Things are going pretty good, but it really depends on the yardstick you use to evaluate it," Jones said. "You can't use as a yardstick that if things haven't happened they're going good. You want to look at the environment. What's it like?"

Jones added that "one of the problems in race relations is you find that people want to do a whole lot the day after [a tragic event] when you don't have the flexibility to build a coalition. The day before is the time when you can have discussions and talk about the issues, but the day after, those opinions have coalesced and people have pretty much decided right and wrong."

Debra Simpson-Buchanan, assistant director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, said that the discussion, and the event in general, will be a thought-provoking one for students who attend.

"Information is powerful," Simpson-Buchanan said, adding that the Fires in the Mirror production is a great opportunity "for people to really challenge the way they think. Is it something they were told and never questioned? I want students to think about why they think about an issue in the way they think about it. Is it fact or myth?"

The three-hour event is free.