The actual meeting never happened. But “The Meeting,” opening Wednesday, dramatizes the “what ifs” of a one-hour conversation between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.
The Black Rep will stage its presentation of “The Meeting” through Jan. 26 in its 37th-season home at Harris-Stowe State University.
Set in 1965 in a Harlem hotel room, the Jeff Stetson play takes place one week before the murder of Malcolm X (Karamuu Kush) and three years before the assassination of King (Matthew Galbreath). Each is willing to die for the cause of equality. But of course neither knows the fast-approaching date of his demise, as they spar over divergent beliefs.
King maintains that, “No progress can come from violence.” But according to Malcolm X, the civil rights movement consists of “sitting 'round a camp fire singing 'We Shall Overcome' while a cross is burning.''
Few sacred stones go unturned in Malcolm X's challenge of King in this video clip from "The Meeting" by Afterthought Theatre of Aurora, Colo.
THE BASICS
What: ‘The Meeting’ Presented by the Black Rep
Where: Harris-Stowe State University, 3206 Laclede Ave., 63103
When: Preview 7 p.m. Wed., Jan. 8; runs through Jan. 26
Cost: $35-$45
Tickets: Metrotix website
Information: Black Rep website or the Dramatists Play Service website
Follow Nancy Fowler on Twitter: @NancyFowlerSTL
