While riots rage in the near vicinity, other conflicts boil and bubble on a roof-top where construction workers are erecting a 10-story ocean-side building. Five men (three of them black and two white) labor in the heat, and as they do their work we sense the racial tension among them. They make crude jokes, talk about women, scuffle with each other and engage in macho bantering; one of the blacks drinks too much and is suspected of malingering. At the same time one of the blacks and one of the whites compete for a bricklayer's job, which means a promotion for the man who gets it.

There is a great deal of cursing in this play; the f-word is in nearly every sentence and violence explodes; yet, underneath all of the high-energy blustering and braggadocio lie the men's fears and longings, their basic need to get along with one another despite their differences. Playwright Kevin Heelan seems to be saying that here on this roof-top nature has planted the seeds for the type of riots taking place nearby; he indirectly points the way as to how such riots might be avoided.

Previously well-received in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Distant Fires is expertly directed in San Francisco by Bill English and performed by a first-rate ensemble. Will Hughs is outstanding with his portrayal of Beauty, the studly ladies' man, presenting the tough façade of the character while also showing us the man's vulnerability, his little-boy-lost quality underneath. Richard Harder is very good as the temporary crew boss who competes with Beauty, a white man, for the promotion. Lester C. Jones as a black peacemaker, a sort of moderator during the conflicts, as well as Stuart Elwyn Hall (the drinking malingerer) and Gordon Holmes as Angel, a sensitive well-meaning kid caught up in the inflammatory quarrels, all provide vivid and distinctly different characterizations. Michael Desmond as General, the construction boss, also registers solidly in his brief moments onstage.

The set designed by director English is a marvel of accuracy and detail, with machinery, tools, cement troughs and other paraphernalia one might find on a construction site realistically in evidence. We must also credit the unrecognized technical advisor(s) who supervised the work which the men do while carrying on their conversations and disputes. Distant Fires is an emotion-charged drama, exuberantly performed by an excellent group of actors under tightly controlled direction.