Juneteenth celebrations continue with original play written by Black community leaders

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- As part of Juneteenth celebrations in St. Joseph, Black community leaders came together to write an original play that premiered this weekend at the Spratt Theater.

'Conversations' is a play written by Loes Hedge, Gary Wilkinson, and JD Soil, a composition of conversations had by prominent Black figures in history, with an emphasis on the conversation between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

The play, born from a concept by Hedge, began with a simple question: What if historical figures who never really met could talk?

“She came up it, and we said 'let’s see what conversations would be like between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X,'” said Wilkinson, one of the play’s writers. “And it just went from there.”

Wilkinson said the writing process centers on emotion.

“The thing you try to do is to get feelings across,” he explained. “The words have to portray those feelings, but it has to be in words that the actors can use and utilize.”

What makes this production unusual is the cast.

According to Wilkinson, “Probably 85, 90% of these actors, this is the first time ever doing something like this. It’s new, and they are new. But they’re willing to work hard.”

For Ramadhan Washington, being cast as Malcolm X carries deep personal meaning.

“It means a whole lot to me because it’s an important role,” Washington said.

He was selected in part because of his religious background, though he noted that he came to the project through his work with a local Black archives group and Juneteenth celebrations.

“The world right now, in this day, needs this type of boost, this type of information coming from past leaders, how they dealt with things,” he said. “We can take what they did and add on to it and make things right for this day in time.”

Washington points to the assassinations of both leaders as unfinished work.

“They both were assassinated at the height of what they were doing,” he said. “Right at the height of their … what they were all about, they put a stop to it. But it was to bring about the unity of the country, not the disunity.”

He hopes audiences take away an important message from history.

“It puts the community on alert. Once they understand it, they’ll know what they’re facing. It’s the same thing that was in 1964.” He added, “The people have to rise up, stand up and do what they have to do to make democracy work, make democracy work like it was intended to work.”

Wilkinson hopes audiences went away with a deeper knowledge of history and the Civil Rights Movement.

“It’s all about history. Things that went on and why these people did the things that they did. Because it wasn’t easy for them. It was difficult. They had to go through some trials and tribulations. And it’s good to know, you’re not going to know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”

Juneteenth celebrations will continue throughout the month, and anybody interested is encouraged to attend.

More of these events can be found on the St. Joseph Juneteenth page on Facebook.