Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam
Marvin X Play in New York
Actor Ganno Grills (Marvin X), Marvin X and Amiri Baraka
Marvin X’s one-act play (with
co-author Ed Bullins) Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam,
has been running at Woody King’s New Federal Theatre
since October 23. It ends Sunday, November 16. Salaam,
Huey Newton, Salaam is a scene from X’s full length
docudrama of his Crack addiction One Day In The Life,
performed coast to coast during the late 90s.Ishmael
Reed says One Day In the Life is the most
powerful drama he’s seen.
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After viewing the current production of
Salaam, Huey Newton,
Marvin X says it
is powerful beyond my expectations. The
dramatic structure provided by
Ed Bullins,
the direction of Mansoor Najee-ullah, and
most of all the acting of Harrison Lee as
Huey P. Newton, Michael Alcide as Young
Brother and Gano Grills as
Marvin X was high
quality which took my writing to another
level. Even the mixed media prologue with a
historical video and sound track was
excellent. It was great to see
Elijah Muhammad in proper perspective within the
black liberation movement. We see clips of
him speaking, pictured with
Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King, Jr.. And there were clips
of Kwame Toure, Angela Davis, Eldridge and
Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale and
Huey P.
Newton.
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But have no doubt, this play says
more about Marvin X than
Huey Newton. Yes, we see Huey
in his last days as a drug addict in conversation with
Marvin X at a West Oakland Crack house, scene of their
last meeting before Huey was murdered by a youth. It is
indeed ironic that Young Brother repeatedly told Huey
how much he respected him, yet it was a young brother
who murdered Huey for allegedly taking his Crack. Huey
was known to shake down Oakland Crack dealers. His last
days were the tragic end of a revolutionary who
nevertheless made a profound contribution to black
liberation.
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But the
prophetic words of
Marvin X dominate the
play, challenging the audience to recover
from our myriad addictions and afflictions
as a result of white supremacy. Thank you,
Woody King for making this production
possible.
Two
other one-acts fill the evening: Amarie
by Hugh L. Fletcher, about adult sexual
abuse and Amiri
Baraka’s classic
The
Toilet, which deals with the theme of
racial homophobia.
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Both are excellent productions
which add to an evening of black power theatre, letting
us know the Black Arts Movement is still relevant.
Wednesday night’s performance was attended by Mr. and
Mrs. Baraka, along with actors Glenn Thurman and John
Amos. These veterans of theatre applauded the cast and
praised them as the next generation of theatre
“magicians,” the term used by veteran director/actor
Hampton V. Clanton who directed The Toilet.
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Marvin
X’s remarks ended the evening when he said
“These young actors, in
order to really be successful and avoid some
of the pitfalls of BAM (the Black Arts
Movement) must not only be skilled actors
but must detoxify and decolonize their minds
of white supremacy notions, such as egotism
which is the tragic flaw of artists
everywhere.”
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