Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met once, briefly, just long enough to shake hands at a public event and be on their respective ways. The Meeting imagines what the two icons of the Civil Rights Movement would talk about if they had an hourlong one-on-one.
Set in 1965, Jeff Stetson’s play is presented as the expected clash of ideologies between the nonviolence-preaching King, a Southern Baptist, and the Muslim convert X, who was convinced that fighting for equality and respect was necessary for beaten-down African Americans.
Yet as the current production at Stageworks Theatre makes clear, the two had more in common than history tells us. Both men, who would, in short order, be assassinated for their beliefs and actions, desired the same result…