<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425428526193_5254" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425428526193_5253">Thanks Karen. A book that is under-appreciated in this regard is by the theologian James Cone:</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425428526193_5257" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425428526193_5256"><a id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425428526193_5255" href="http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Malcolm-America-Dream-Nightmare/dp/0883448246">http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Malcolm-America-Dream-Nightmare/dp/0883448246</a></span></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Tuesday, March 3, 2015 5:21 PM, Karen Medina via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 5px; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid;"> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv9135931222"><div dir="ltr"><div class="yiv9135931222gmail_signature">
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"><b>Theater Review: “The
Meeting: Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Jeff Stetson</b></div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">This past week I had the privilege to attend a stage play, “The
Meeting: Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” in the theater at Champaign
Centennial High School. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">The Meeting is a fictional “what if” Malcolm X and MLK met
in secret? What would they talk about, argue about, agree upon; would they
trust each other, would they bring gifts, would they respect each other for the
gifts each gives to the world, would they talk about their death threats, their
dreams, their hopes, their fears for humanity, and their personal issues? </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">This play takes place more on Malcolm X’s turf than MLK’s;
it takes place in Harlem. The timing is interesting too. It is the week between
Malcolm X’s house being firebombed (while he and his family are inside) and Malcolm
X’s assassination. The premise is that Malcolm X has invited MLK. The
invitation is accepted. MLK comes all the way to New York just to see Malcolm
X.<span> </span>The theme song for the play is
“You Don’t Know What Love Is” by Don Raye and Gene DePaul.</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">There are only three actors in the play. All the actors are
amazing perhaps even perfect for their rolls. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">The play opens with a mixed soliloquy. Malcolm X,
spotlighted stage left, is interviewed by a disembodied reporter. After each
answer by Malcolm, Martin spotlighted stage right comments as if he too is
being interviewed but the questions are unspoken. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Robbins, who plays Malcolm X, delivers the calm,
intelligent, reasons for African Americans to defend themselves. King’s lines
are less to any particular point but are delivered by Dozier quite well in the
calm, intelligent, story-telling manner of King. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"><span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Malcolm X also speaks of his eye-opening experience in Mecca – the
lines are delivered with a truly compassionate wistfulness – as if describing a
completely different world than that which exists in the United States.</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">The soliloquies end. The conversations begin. Malcolm X and his
personal body guard, Rashad, are waiting for Martin Luther King’s arrival.
Again, it is Malcolm’s turf and he gets to make his thoughts very explicit.
Rashad, played by McLendon, is amazing – as amazing as the other two. Malcolm
awakes from having drifted off on the couch. He has had a bad dream. He speaks
of his dreams, of the firebombed house, of the threats against his life. Both X
and Rashad express passion for the movement.</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Included throughout is an underlying theme, “What is love?”
Love in all its meanings. At one point, Malcolm asks Rashad, “The first time
you made love, do you remember why?” Rashad answers, “Mostly because she said
yes we could.” Malcolm breaks off the conversation to call his wife to check on
the family and to promise that he will spend more time with them as soon as
this speaking engagement is over. “Whoa, don’t get too excited, we have enough
kids already.” Malcolm and Betty had 6 daughters.<span> </span></div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">King finally arrives. Rashad does not trust King and tries
to frisk him for a weapon. MALCOLM shoos Rashad away, confident that King would
not be there to kill.</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">The battle of words, wits, philosophies, and dreams finally
begins. Punctuated by three arm wrestling events. The first discussion is about
formal education vs. self-education. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Both men are patient and carefully watching the longer
threads of the conversation. Much of the play’s lines are for Malcolm. It is
almost as if Malcolm is arguing with himself -- the man before the Hajj, and
the man moved by what he experienced in Mecca. At times it seems that Martin
Luther King is just there to witness the inner conflict. But upon close
inspection, King, himself, is also experiencing that same inner conflict
throughout the play, just with fewer lines. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">At one point, Malcolm says, “You have sit-ins so that we can
shop there. I want us to OWN the stores.” Much later, King almost whispers as
he is leaving (and I am paraphrasing here), “Sit-ins are not just for shopping
rights. We will own the stores. And we will write the laws.”</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Which brings us to the paper bag that King brought with him.
Malcolm opens it. Inside is a doll, an obviously much-loved doll. It is a gift
from King’s oldest child Yolanda to Malcolm’s oldest daughter Attallah. King
says that when Yolanda saw the photo of Attallah outside their bombed home she
immediately asked King to take her favorite doll to Attallah.</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Mostly, this stage play is an opportunity for Malcolm X to
explain himself almost entirely, from his street life to the letter X; from his
self-education and dislike of institutional honors to his brilliant mind, from
his dreams to his nightmares, from his knowledge that power concedes nothing to
his compassion for the oppressed. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">All three of the actors are amazing. The play is very worth
seeing. And discussing. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">The most brilliant part of this play at this time in this
town is that the Department of African Studies has promised to do one
presentation on campus a second in the community – an absolutely brilliant
idea. Too bad the discussion afterwards did not show any clue of the local
current events. The Black Lives Matter demonstration at Centennial High School
touched the lives right there in that room. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Malcolm X’s contributions are rarely taught in schools. My
school history books ignored Malcolm X. As an anti-war activist I strongly
believe that to understand even Martin Luther King we need to also learn about
Malcolm X. <span> </span>Malcolm X is rarely
brought to life so well as in this play. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">---</div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">Stage play: “The Meeting: Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.” was written by Jeff Stetson, presented by the Department of African
American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in cooperation with
The Kennie Playhouse Theater, Nashville, Tennesee. </div>
<div class="yiv9135931222MsoNormal">###</div>
</div>
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