One Night in Miami - (Oberon Modern Plays) by Kemp Powers (Paperback)

About the Book

To the outside world, they were American icons. They understood each other in a way that no one else could.

Book Synopsis

Before they were icons they were friends

The world would come to know him as Muhammad Ali, but on 25 February 1964, a twenty-two-year-old Cassius Clay celebrated his world heavyweight title not by hitting the town, but in a hotel room with his three closest friends: activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and American football star Jim Brown. To the outside world, they were American icons. But in that hotel room, here were four men who understood each other and their moment in history in a way that no one else could. With the Civil Rights movement stirring outside, and the melody of A Change is Gonna Come hanging in the air, these men would emerge from that room ready to define a new world.

Kemp Powers's tough talking, in-your-face debut play premiered in LA in 2013 where it won the Ted Schmitt Award for outstanding world premiere of a new play along with three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, four NAACP Theatre Awards and LA Weekly Theater Awards for playwriting.

This edition was originally published to coincide with the European premiere at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2016 where it received critical acclaim. It was later adapted into a feature film, released in January 2021.

Review Quotes

"Crackling good dialogue and timely themes ... Powers weaves together multiple strains of plot and character with a seasoned pro's skill. His mission to present a believable slice-of-life with contemporary resonance is, like Clay's, achieved in a decisive knockout." --Variety

"An astounding debut for playwright Kemp Powers ... Superb across the board ... breathtakingly good. There just aren't enough superlatives. Powerful, funny, exhilarating - what a play." --ArtsBeatLA

"In less than ninety minutes, a long, difficult chapter of American history seems to sweep by. The mind keeps flashing back and forward, even as the play grips us with the immediacy of the hotel room. Great theater hits you hard and in many places. That's exactly what you get from the powers of this play ... great theater." --Baltimore Sun

"Although the setting is historic, the issues remain as timely as ever... "You brothers are our bright shining future," says Malcolm X at one point, but Powers' play raises urgent questions as to how that is to be achieved... it is still stirring to hear the path to racial progress being argued with such passion and presented with such fervour on a British stage... I wished the play, at 90 minutes, had been longer, but in evoking the dreams and aspiration of the past, Powers makes you think about the persistent inequalities of the present." --Michael Billington, The Guardian

"Crackling good dialogue and timely themes ... Powers weaves together multiple strains of plot and character with a seasoned pro's skill. His mission to present a believable slice-of-life with contemporary resonance is, like Clay's, achieved in a decisive knockout." --Variety

"In less than ninety minutes, a long, difficult chapter of American history seems to sweep by. The mind keeps flashing back and forward, even as the play grips us with the immediacy of the hotel room.Great theater hits you hard and in many places. That's exactly what you get from the powers of this play ... great theater." --Baltimore Sun

"An astounding debut for playwright Kemp Powers ... Superb acrossthe board ... breathtakingly good. There just aren't enough superlatives. Powerful, funny, exhilarating - what a play." --ArtsBeatLA

About the Author

Kemp Powers won the 2013 Ted Schmitt Award for outstanding world premiere of a new play for One Night in Miami... The play has also won three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, four NAACP Theatre Awards and an LA Weekly Theater Award.