“The Meeting,” a play dramatizing a fictional meeting between Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, opened at The Black Rep on Friday, January 8 and will run through January 26 at The Black Rep’s new location at the Emerson Performance Center at Harris-Stowe State University.
“This play manages to give a balanced perspective,” said actor/director/filmmaker/actor Ka’ramuu Kush told Kenya Vaughn of The American. “My hope is that anyone who sees it at the very least says, ‘Wow, I thought Malcolm was all this way, but he’s not – or I thought Martin was all this way, but he’s not.’”
Kush is playing Malcolm X in Jeff Stetson’s play, which is centered around a fictional conversation between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of Malcolm X’s assassination in February 1965. Directed by Ron Himes, the production also stars Matthew Galbreath as Dr. King.
Kush, a native of Detroit, and has made frequent appearances at The Black Rep. was last seen at The Black Rep in the title role in Shakespeare’s “Pericles,” and as Elijah McCoy in Andrew Moodie’s “The Real McCoy.” Current work includes “Die Enormous,” an action drama feature film inspired by Assata Shakur featuring Omari Hardwick; “Suite,” a three-part feature film on the lives, loves and music of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis; and “Solomon,” a cable TV pilot in development with John Singleton.
Galbreath is a native of Jefferson City, Missouri. He has spent the last five years working regionally with New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi, and he graduated from Jackson State University in 2011. This will be his fifth production with The Black Rep. Most recently he appeared in “Black Nativity: A Holiday Celebration.” Last season he was featured as Chance in “Smash/Hit!” He was also seen as Nick Bottom in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“Seeing these two titans engage and sharing their thoughts and concepts is really powerful,” Kush told The American. “I don’t think you can walk away from this play and say this one was all right and that one was all wrong. You see that they were in fact mirror images of each other in a lot of ways.”
Kush shared with The American rare footage of Dr. King he stumbled upon during his research for “The Meeting.” It was filmed just days before his assassination as he prepared for the Poor People’s Campaign to march on Washington, D.C.
“When we go to Washington, we are coming to get our check,” King said in the clip.
“He sounded like Malcolm on that clip, didn’t he?” Kush said.
He added, “Malcolm also evolved into embracing whites and realizing that it wasn’t so much about color as it was about a mentality. I think they both really start to resemble each other towards the end of their lives.”
The Black Rep’s presentation of “The Meeting” continues through January 26 at Harris-Stowe State University’s Emerson Performance Center. For tickets or more information, call 314-534-3807 or visit www.theblackrep.org.
