It’s Feb. 25, 1964, in Miami, and there is a raucous celebration in the streets. Cocky 22-year-old Cassius Clay has just bested Sonny Liston to become the world heavyweight champion, an event Sports Illustrated would name the fourth-greatest sports moment of the 20th century,

It was party time at the posh hotels of Miami, which may have welcomed Clay — soon to be known as Muhammad Ali — for a pat on the back, but he would not have been allowed to spend the night in their rooms. Jim Crow was still alive and well, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not take effect until July 2. So instead of whooping it up on the beach, Clay and his good friends — activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and football star Jim Brown — gathered in a modest hotel room in a more welcoming Miami suburb.

Wouldn’t you have loved to be a fly on the wall of that gathering? Kemp Powers’ 2013 play “One Night in Miami ...” puts us in that position, with a fictionalized account of how four of the most well-known men in America, men who shaped the change that was to come, spent those hours.

“It's a very quintessential City Theatre kind of story,” said director Reginald L. Douglas. “It takes history and reimagines it for the present. It tackles big themes, such as black masculinity and black legacy, and has the power of re-evaluating America’s past through a very human story.”

“One Night in Miami …” is the first play by Powers, who had been a staff writer on the TV series “Star Trek: Discovery.”  Powers will have a reading of a new play, “Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue” — about how colorism affects twins, one with dark skin, and the other, light-skinned — at City on Monday.

The Los Angeles debut of “One Night in Miami …” garnered several awards, and Variety’s reviewer wrote, “It's easy to see why investors are eyeing this crackerjack world premiere. Any playwright can stick celebrity facsimiles together in a room; it takes real talent not only to render those portraits believable but also to invest the encounter with dramatic weight.”

Powers incorporates traits that we know of these men, such as young Clay’s antic posturing, but the play builds a world all its own, absent a transcript of what was said in that hotel room. There also is the addition of two bodyguards, protecting Malcolm X. He would be dead almost a year to the day later, on Feb. 25, 1965, killed by rival black Muslims.

The play shows Malcolm X’s justified paranoia, along with his pleasure in having ice cream with friends.

"It's an honest sharing of how the themes of our past are still alive today. I think the reality of being a black man in America is still fraught with tension around identity and perception,” Douglas said. “But the other thing that's lasted in the black community, whether it's 1964 or 2019, is a deep belief and trust in the power of community and family and friendship and joy, in the face of that discrimination and pain.”

Mimicry is not the goal for the “One Night in Miami …” actors, who have no easy task, portraying such iconic figures. 

“They bring their own spirit and sensibilities to the roles,” Douglas said. “We are not putting a book report or Wikipedia onstage. We actually are showing the humans behind these heroes, and getting a glimpse into their hearts, their minds and their friendship.”

The cast includes recent University of Pittsburgh graduate Brenden Peifer, making his professional debut as one of Malcolm X’s bodyguards; the other is Lamar K. Cheston, who has performed with several local companies. 

New to Pittsburgh are the central quartet, including Thomas Walter Booker as Clay/Ali and Avery Glymph as Malcolm X. Quincy Chad (“Orange Is the New Black”; “The Get Down”) was an all-conference linebacker at Wesleyan University, so he may have some insights stepping into Jim Brown’s shoes. Dwayne Washington is tasked with playing Cooke, a hitmaker with “You Send Me” and “Twisting the Night Away,” and the song that foretells, “A Change is Gonna Come.”

We witness Cooke in the act of creating, notes the director, who revealed that he makes himself a playlist for all of his productions. “It’s become a thing with the staff here — ‘What music is Reg listening to now?’ This is my way to figure out the rhythms and the spirit of a play,” he said.

For “One Night in Miami …,” he immersed himself in the music of James Brown and Motown and eventually was listening to only black male voices.

“It was an interesting way to understand the play, which is, these hyper masculine iconic black men, baring their souls and showing their emotions and vulnerability, and their power,” Douglas said. Another key to understanding was keeping in mind that this one night was, after all, a celebration.

“More than anything,” he said, “you get to see four best friends who are having a party.”

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter Preferences.

First Published: November 14, 2019, 11:00 a.m.