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CONTACT:
Angela Jones, Public Information Officer
City of Richmond (510) 621-1230

RICHMOND CELEBRATES
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY
WITH HIGHLY ACCLAIMED STAGE PLAY
“THE MEETING”

Bay area actors featured in drama depicting fictional meeting between Dr. King and Malcolm X 

January 6, 2003.  The City of Richmond Recreation and Parks Department invites the public to attend the highly acclaimed one-act stage play, “The Meeting,” featuring several bay area actors, including James Brooks as Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Lange as Malcolm X, and Richmond native Doward Washington as Rashad.  The award winning play was written by Jeff Stetson and is directed by Gloria Weinstock.  The performance takes place on Friday, January 10, 2003, at 8:00 p.m. at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza. 

Fascinating and dramatically compelling, this eloquent play depicts the supposed meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two of the most important men of modern times.  Differing in their philosophies, but alike in their mutual respect, the two men debate their varying approaches to the same grave social problems, both prepared to die for their beliefs but neither aware of how soon their assassins' bullets would await them.

As a complement to the performance, Richmond Mayor Irma L. Anderson and Reverend Phillip Lawson, Pastor of the Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond, will share personal reflections on the legacy of Dr. King.  Also, Ms.Yuri Kochiyama will express her sentiments about her personal association with Malcolm X.  Kochiyama was present when Malcolm X was assassinated and she held him in her arms as he died.  The reflections will be followed by a brief question and answer period.

Veteran actor James Brooks has over 20 years of experience in stage, television and film, including The Game, with Michael Douglas, and Nash Bridges. Other credits include HomerG and the Rhapsodies at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and Sweet Potato Ride at the Sundance Film Festival.

Michael Lange has over 150 appearances nationwide, performing several major speeches of Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X).  Lange is also a playwright and recently finished a docudrama for stage based on the life of Nat Turner.

Doward Washington began studying acting with the City of Richmond Recreation and Parks Department.  Most of his work has been on live stage where he won Actor of the Year in Hayward for his lead role in Driving Miss Daisy, and most recently performed in August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Director Gloria Weinstock works with the Oakland Ensemble Theatre.  Her professional experience has been influenced by such high profile theatre companies as the American Conservatory Theatre where she performed in Duchess of Malfi and Piano Lessons, and Berkeley Reperatory Theatre’s Execution of Justice.  She is an instructor at Laney College, teaching theatre and production classes and also teaches in the San Francisco Community College District.

Playwright Jeff Stetson’s first play, The Meeting, was produced in June, 1984 by the Los Angeles Actor’s Theatre and received a Louis B. Mayer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting.  It has also received 8 NAACP Image Awards, including Best Play and Best Writer in 1987.

The action takes place in a suite high up in a Harlem hotel, where Malcolm X and his bodyguard, Rashad, rest before Malcolm's fateful appearance at the Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm has requested a secret meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who is also in New York, and Dr. King has responded by trudging up the back stairs to Malcolm's suite.  Cautious at first, the two quickly fall into a spirited debate about their differing approaches to improving the lot of the black man in a predominantly white society--Dr. King (the lamb), hoping to find racial harmony through love and peaceful resistance while Malcolm (the lion), is reconciled to violence and revenge if blacks are to win out over oppression.  But no matter how provocative and persuasive his arguments, Malcolm is unable to shake Dr. King's commitment and composure--even when he defeats him in a bout of arm wrestling. As it happens, Malcolm's New York home had been fire bombed that morning and, as he prepares to leave, Dr. King gives him a present: a much-loved doll which his daughter had asked him to give to Malcolm's own daughter. The two men then arm wrestle again, this time to a draw, an act symbolic not only of their clash of wills but also of the conflicting beliefs which both honor in the other but will not accept for themselves, no matter how eloquent and powerful the arguments set forth.

Tickets are $3 for adults and may be purchased in advance at the Recreation and Parks Department, 3230 Macdonald Avenue, or at the Auditorium box office on the day of the performance.  Admission is free for senior citizens and high school students with identification.  Refreshments will be served.  For more information, please call (510) 620-6910 or (510) 620-6904.