On the afternoon of Sunday, February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was about to deliver an address to The Nation of Islam at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. As he approached the stage, he was assassinated before a crowd of hundreds of people, including his pregnant wife, Betty Shabazz, and three of their six children.
Exploring the tumultuous landscape of religious ideology and activism in the 1960s, X dramatizes various events in the life of Malcolm X including his relationships with his family, friends and the leaders of the Nation of Islam and his untimely death by assassination.
X, Or, Betty Shabazz vs The Nation takes place in a fictitious courtroom and you, the audience, are the jury. With each witness called to the stand by Betty Shabazz (the prosecution) and Louis X (the defendant), audiences will revisit crucial moments in 1963-65 that lead up to the assassination. Told through the eyes of characters who impacted Malcolm's life—including Betty, Louis Farrakhan, Elijah Muhammad and others—the play explores the tense political climate that led to the death of the influential and controversial Black Nationalist leader.
