{"id":15198,"date":"2020-02-09T13:01:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T18:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15198"},"modified":"2020-02-09T13:02:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T18:02:13","slug":"detroit-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/02\/09\/detroit-red\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Detroit Red’: Malcolm X Comes Of Age In Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

For DigBoston<\/a>, I recently previewed “Detroit Red,”<\/a> a \u201ctheatrical exploration of the life of Malcolm X as he dwelled and came of age in the Roxbury section of Boston,” which is making its world premiere at Boston\u2019s Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage from Feb. 1 to 16, 2020:<\/em><\/p>\n

In December 1945 and January 1946, Malcolm X and accomplices burglarized homes in Brookline, Newton, Arlington, Belmont, and Milton. The end of his crime spree came that January in a Roxbury jewelry shop where he\u2019d left a stolen watch for repair. The man who would become the incandescent civil rights leader and evangelist for the Nation of Islam was then just 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe owner of the watch had alerted all the jewelry shops in Boston to be on the lookout for this watch,\u201d says Will Power, author of the play “Detroit Red,”<\/a> a \u201ctheatrical exploration of the life of Malcolm X as he dwelled and came of age in the Roxbury section of Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes into the jewelry shop to retrieve the watch and the cop comes out of the back,\u201d Power says. Just then, another man enters the store and the policeman turns to the newcomer. \u201cMalcolm realized in his mind: I could take out my gun and shoot this guy in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Detroit Red” begins with video reenacting the scene. \u201cMy whole play takes place in that split second,\u201d Power says, \u201cwhen Malcolm has to decide whether to shoot the cop or give the gun over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video freezes and the live cast comes out\u2014Eric Berryman as Detroit Red (Malcolm X\u2019s 1940\u2019s nickname) plus Edwin Lee Gibson and Bront\u00eb England-Nelson.<\/p>\n

Under the direction of Lee Sunday Evans, scenes are intended to flow like memories through Malcolm X\u2019s adventures in early 1940s Boston, to New York from 1942 to \u201944, then Boston again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a theater piece,\u201d Power says, \u201cthat goes to all these heightened moments when he\u2019s trying to figure out who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people in Boston don\u2019t associate Malcolm X with being a Boston figure. They don\u2019t claim him,\u201d Power says. \u201cLet\u2019s rediscover our own heroes and reclaim them and understand the complexities of who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his autobiography, Malcolm X said of his time in Boston, \u201cNo physical move in my life has been more pivotal or profound in its repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Eric<\/a>
Eric Berryman as Detroit Red (Malcolm X\u2019s 1940\u2019s nickname) in “Detroit Red” at ArtsEmerson, 2020. (Randall Garnick Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Eric<\/a>
Eric Berryman as Detroit Red (Malcolm X\u2019s 1940\u2019s nickname) in “Detroit Red” at ArtsEmerson, 2020. (Randall Garnick Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bront\u00eb<\/a>
Bront\u00eb England-Nelson (left) and Eric Berryman as Detroit Red in “Detroit Red” at ArtsEmerson, 2020. (Randall Garnick Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Eric<\/a>
Eric Berryman as Detroit Red (Malcolm X\u2019s 1940\u2019s nickname) in “Detroit Red” at ArtsEmerson, 2020. (Randall Garnick Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Eric<\/a>
Eric Berryman as Detroit Red (left) and Edwin Lee Gibson in “Detroit Red” at ArtsEmerson, 2020. (Randall Garnick Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For DigBoston, I recently previewed “Detroit Red,” a \u201ctheatrical exploration of the life of Malcolm X as he dwelled and came of age in the Roxbury section of Boston,” which is making its world premiere at Boston\u2019s Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage from Feb. 1 to 16, 2020: In December 1945 and January […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,110],"tags":[473,37,694,162,695],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15198"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15211,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198\/revisions\/15211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}