"The Meeting"

Performances April 12, 16-19, 2008, at 7:30 pm
and April 13, 2008, at 2 pm
Alice Jepson Theatre

What would happen if Malcolm X, advocate of Black Nationalism and “self-defense,” met with Martin Luther King Jr., proponent of “non-violence”? Jeff Stetson’s award-winning play, The Meeting, stealthily explores this notion in a hotel room on Valentine’s Day 1965, a week before the Black Muslim leader is assassinated.

With his home recently bombed, Malcolm is holed up on the 7th floor of a Harlem inn. Dr. King visits him, providing words of “comfort.” Both men lead and oppose threatening forces filled with promise. In taut, subtle and sometimes fiery language, the two become engaged by polarities of vision, which ignite the evening and possibly a nation. Portrayed as a dialogue, this compelling exposé of prominent men in our recent history who changed our nation and the world is dark and humorous, illuminating and poignant, inspirational and empowering.

Produced throughout Asia, Europe and the United States, The Meeting received a Louis B. Mayer Award, eight NAACP Theater Awards and six New York AUDELCO nominations. From Chuck Mike, director of Home and Tegonni: An African Antigone, comes another thought-provoking, highly entertaining production. This spring feature from the Department of Theatre and Dance and the University Players features prominent artists-in-residence, along with gospel and jazz music.

Tickets: $15 adults, $12 seniors 65+ and UR employees & alumni, $10 students, $6 children 12 and under and $10 UR students

Jeff Stetson's The Meeting is set in a period of America's past when political, racial and social injustice and unrest were the order of the day. This production examines those CONCEPTS and the issues arising from them in a substantive and thorough manner. As the American philosopher and poet George Santayana once wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
      Some patrons might find these discussions and imagery disturbing. However, we hope that audience members critically reflect on America today and how we can creatively, consciously and collectively move beyond our current injustices towards a greater humanity.
—Walter Schoen, Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance

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