Forged in Boston
‘Detroit Red’ spotlights Malcolm X’s Hub experience
Growing up San Francisco’s Fillmore district, playwright Will Power saw black men struggling to find their place in a country often openly hostile to their very existence. Years later, he connected these men to a young Malcolm X, who, before becoming a major civil rights leader, went by the name Detroit Red while living in Boston.
“These people in my community reminded me of Detroit Red, like him they were angry, brilliant, creative and artistic, and sometimes violent,” Power said. “It made me think, ‘How did Malcolm X transform into this larger-thanlife, iconic figure, when other brothers didn’t make that transformation?’ ”
In his latest work, “Detroit Red,” which makes its world premiere Saturday through 16 at ArtsEmerson’s Robert J. Orchard Stage, Power dissects and embellishes Malcolm X’s tumultuous time in the Hub. While Malcolm X spent only a small slice of time living in
Roxbury with his sister, Ella LittleCollins, his years as a teenager in the city played a pivotal role in shaping his world view, Power says.
“His harsh scathing critique of white liberals came out of his time in Boston, and his first experience with the black bourgeoisie also came out of this time,” he said. “He worked at the Omni Parker House and other places around the city and came into contact with all kinds of people.”
In a life as rich, complex and controversial as Malcolm X’s, having sufficient material wasn’t a problem even when looking at only half a decade window of time.
“With these big figures, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy or Susan B. Anthony, it’s hard to do cradleto-grave stories since they had so much to their lives,” Power said. “It makes more sense to look back at one key period and dig into that. With ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X,’ every chapter could be its own play or movie.”
Power insists his play isn’t a dusty history lesson. Pulled in part from “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” the writer has created characters and dialogue from passing scenes in the book. The production includes video elements; costumes have been tweaked to nod to our modern age. Power spent time in Roxbury meeting with young people with a contemporary view of Malcolm X and seniors in the neighborhood who remember when the leader would return to visit his sister.
“I am fascinated by these points in history that could benefit from our perspective in 2020,” Power said. “I am interested in looking at the time in a person’s life when they didn’t have it all together. It’s good to see them as human because that can inspire us to become our own Malcolm X, whatever that means to us.”
Power knew Malcolm X still connected with people five decades after his murder, but the writer has been surprised at the reach of his forthcoming play. While still in rehearsals, Power has received requests to mount “Detroit Red” in theaters around the world. First, he will get through the debut in Boston, but he finds the offers intriguing.
“A theater in Belgium reached out and a festival in Chile also got in touch with me,” he said. “Whether it’s Coca Cola or Malcolm X, one thing we do as Americans, for better or worse, is export culture. But with Malcolm X, it’s great to see that, internationally, here in Boston, there is more interest in him then ever.”