Black Star Industries is producing the stageplay, The Meeting, written by Jeff Stetson and directed by Ron Bobb-Semple. Auditions are being held on Monday, February 10th, 2014 from 6 – 8pm at The Akwaaba Hall -1245 18th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33705.
We are seeking three African young men ages 15-22years old
Malcolm X, Activist
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr – Preacher / Civil Rights Leader
Rashad – Malcolm X’s bodyguard.
For the audition actors should come prepared to present a two-minute monologue and read from the script. Please bring a photograph and resume.
Callbacks will take place on February 12. For more information call 727-420-0924.
The performance dates are Saturday, May 17th – Sunday, May 18th, 2014.
This production will be manned by a young cast and crew of area residents. Along with exciting young talent playing historic roles, the positions of the assistant director, stage manager, sound and lighting technician, and costume designer will be filled by young people that have a strong desire to participate in theatre.
This eloquent play depicts the supposed meeting of two of the most important men of modern times: Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 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.
THE STORY: 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 Chicago home had been fire bombed that morning and, as he prepares to leave, Dr. King gives him a present: a much loved doll that his daughter had asked him to give to Malcolm's. 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.
