On June 23, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led 125,000 people on afreedom walk in Detroit. A bottle was thrown from the crowd andwounded a little girl.  Jeff Stetson recalled this incident inhis one-act play, “The Meeting.”

The play has received numerous accolades including a Louis B.Mayer Award, eight NAACP Theatre Awards and six New York AUDELCOnominations. It has been produced throughout Asia, Europe and theUnited states. The latest production of “The Meeting”was performed at SMU. The play stirred up a variety of emotions inthe audience at Monday’s performance.

“The crowd made a big difference — they were veryresponsive to the message,” said Kevin Daniels, a first-yeartheatre major, who portrayed Rashad, an overprotective bodyguardfor Malcolm X. 

The mood went from light-hearted to empathic in a matter ofminutes as the leaders talked about their views on the civil rightsmovements. The play reminded the crowd of the triumphs of greatleaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

“The play was very real,” first-year student LatoyaGreer said.

First-year theater major Isreal Scott, who portrayed King, andsophomore theater major Bechir Sylvain, who played Malcolm X, gavemoving performances.

“I was overwhelmed a little by the play in trying to giveDr. King the highest respect in acting as him if only for onenight. I am honored to have this chance,” Scott said.

The play touched on the issues of religion, politics and familyvalues. “I hope the audience got the message that bothleaders helped the [civil rights] cause—one without the otherwouldn’t have worked,” said Sylvain, who also directedthe play.

There was a message in “The Meeting” that there isno religion that devalues family and humanity. King, a Christian,and Malcolm X, a Muslim, both had a common goal to protect theirfamilies and hope for a better future for their children. No matterhow much the dialogue between King and Malcolm X may have seemedargumentative and critical, both characters agreed that family wasworth dying for.

The plays showed Malcolm X and King as human as well as men whosimply stood up for what they believed in. The humorous side ofMalcolm X and King came out in the play, portraying the men in waysthe media rarely captured. The reasons why King was a dreamer andMalcolm X a revolutionary was also touched upon. For example, whena bottle from the crowd was thrown at a child King wanted to changethe person’s heart that threw the bottle, while Malcolm Xwanted to take aggressive measures to prevent the bottle from beingthrown at the child. “Both Martin and Malcolm were for thesame cause and their tactics are still being used to fightinjustice,” said Matthew Shaw, a first-year civil engineeringmajor.

Although “the meeting” that took place March 26,1964 allowed leaders to meet and declare their friendship, Kingnonetheless experienced his first hurtful rejection by black peoplewhen black Muslims in Harlem stoned him on his way home. Fortyyears later, the dreams of African-Americans being business ownersand having equality have finally become a reality.

One of the most profound statements in the play declared,”We have climbed the mountain and we have seen the promiseland.”