As I sit and meditate on the anniversary of the premier of my first play Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh, I cant help but to dwell on the reality of how with some of our lives changing and defining moments occur quite unintentionally.
Prior to joining a writer's workshop at the Playwrights Center, I had never written anything creatively. I had been an essayist and columnist for my college newspaper writing political commentary and music reviews but it had been years since I had done any of that type of writing. I joined the workshop not to write a play but just to be around other writers in the hopes of jumpstarting the writing I had done previously.
Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh was the first thing that came out of my pen after 8 years of a writers block inspired by political consciousness, reggae music and plenty of marijuana. While I was happy to see something come out of the pen after all these years, with a reading scheduled to take place at the Playwrights Center and with such Penumbra Theater luminaries such as Marion McClinton, Terry Bellamy and William "Byrd" Wilkins scheduled to attend the reading, I wasn't willing to embarrass myself. If this was going to be bad, I was ready to stop the charade and throw the script in the trash. I read the script to my roommate Mitch Olson and told him if he felt it was bad to let me know now. He said to bring it to the reading.
I've thought about the "What ifs?" There's a part of me that believes if the reading of the Playwrights Center's African American writers workshop had taken place at the Walker Art Center as was scheduled, I would have left it at that..like I said I became part of the workshop to get my writing juices flowing again and that was accomplished. The Walker Art Center cancelled the reading. Reason given? None of the works they said adhered to "standard theatrical fare" With the various "offbeat" works that have appeared at the Walker and we got cancelled because we didn't fit some standard?? Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh was never meant to meet some standard. As a result of that cancellation, I rewrote the script. The initial script knowing a Walker reading was forthcoming only had references to marijuana. Peter Tosh wasn't afraid to burn a spliff anytime anyplace,. now the Peter Tosh character smokes 5 in the course of the play.
What if we put this event on and no one showed?? While members of the Playwrights Center workshop were to take part at the event, Mitch and I signed a contract with the Cedar Cultural Center to put on a Tribute to Malcolm X on the occasion of his birthday? and we were the ones to be held financially responsible should attendance be less than a certain amount. Malcolm X talked about a dangerous creation being one with nothing to lose. Mitch and I had nothing to lose. This came at a time when for different reasons life seemed to be falling apart all around us. What was a little more debt going to do to us?
What if we were to get arrested? After the Walker cancellation, I decided everything about this play was going to be REAL including the 5 spliffs the Peter Tosh character was to smoke. Knowing that getting arrested might be a possibility, Mitch and I spent as much time plotting escape routes should the cops show up as we did learning our roles. (I portrayed Peter Tosh that first year and Mitch portrayed "The Man on the Couch") We were the two likely to get arrested as the script called for both of our characters to smoke onstage Our escape plans were made with the assumption that maybe 30-40 people would come to the Cedar that night. When I saw the full house,I said to Mitch "I think we're going to jail tonight"
Life did change from that moment on. Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh went on to run in Denver and at Colorado State University in Fort Collins Colorado. It arrived in Denver at the time when the battle for marijuana legalization was heating up in Colorado. I had advocated its legalization as a candidate for Mayor of Denver years before but this was bringing it to an all new level by bringing it onstage. I guess it was inevitable that once the play landed in Colorado,it would cross paths with the Peter Tosh of American legalization in Ken Gorman. Those paths led to attendance records for theater at the Mercury Cafe, a near arrest in Fort Collins, and when the play ran for a second year at the Bug Theater in Denver, Ken and three other people in the audience were arrested for smoking marijuana in the audience Read the headlines in the theater section of the now defunct Rocky Mountain News "Bug's Malcolm X sends Audiences Smokin'' It brought to the theater an audience that on its own would largely not be drawn to theater.
I would not have imagined having the opportunity to bring my work on stages across the US and in Europe,nor would I have imagined working with Marley Archivist Roger Steffens or opening for Dub Poet Linton Kwezi Johnson. not to mention present day journeys into roots storytelling which has brought me into contact with the likes of Charlie Parr. I was told by someone connected in the theater world that by going renegade at the Cedar,I may never see another stage in Minneapolis again. I never imagined that over 20 years later that I'd still be creating but here I am..
There's another thing that play changed. Given much of the rancor between Rose's mom and myself ,my relationship with Rose was seemingly going on a downhill trajectory. Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh changed that trajectory and here's how: Rose as a kid loved plays. She battled illness once to participate in a first grade play. Rose was excited when she learned her Dad was putting on a play. That in itself was defying the narrative on me being taught her. She got to attend some of the rehearsals and liked many of the cast members. (No marijuana was smoked at those rehearsals) Needless to say she wanted to attend the event at the Cedar. She got to attend but the next day instead of being picked up by her mom,her clothes and toys were dropped off on the West Bank and just like that,I'm a full time parent living in the Holtzermann Building on the West Bank.
Today as a result of that trajectory beginning to change from that day,I get to enjoy three grandkids!
