By ERIN HOPKINS

Staff Writer

Pin Points Theatre, an educational theater company based in Washington, D.C., performed "The Meeting" Feb. 11, in the Student Center, Second Floor. The play showed what would have happened if Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had the opportunity to meet.

"[The play] is very important," Dudley F. Craig II, one of the actors with Pin Points Theatre, said. "It stimulates thought and understanding about this time period that shaped our current social climate."

"The Meeting" was written by Jeff Stetson. For the play he received a Louis B. Mayer Award for outstanding achievement in playwriting, eight 1987 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Theatre Awards and six New York Audelco nominations.

Stetson has written many plays besides "The Meeting". After receiving his master's degree in public policy analysis and social change theory and completed his doctoral course work in systems analysis and educational and organizational design, he became the director of public affairs and university relations for the California State University System.

Craig portrayed King in the play and has been with the cast for the past year, traveling to universities throughout Louisiana.

"[The play] allows younger minds to consider issues concerning civil rights against a backdrop of modern challenges," Craig said.

Craig has been with the theatre company for 10 years. He has also performed in several other stage productions including "Mama I Want to Sing" and "I Am a Man".

Malcolm X was portrayed by Ersky Freeman. Freeman has been with the cast for 15 years. He also founded Pin Points Theatre 20 years ago and is the resident playwright.

"This role is more an obligation than a role," Freeman said. "Malcolm X was just a man who was put in a difficult position, during a difficult time."

Both actors said these roles were demanding.

"The biggest challenge [in playing Malcolm X] was the research, studying who he was," Freeman said.

Freeman has performed in several other productions including "1,001 Black Inventions," which was also performed at Tech 12 years ago.

Freeman said he felt theater should be enlightening as well as entertaining.

Mert Douglas, director of multicultural affairs, organized the production.

"I hope [the play] will enlighten [the students] about the lives of the two leaders, Dr. King and Malcolm X," Douglas said. "I have always heard that they were always at odds with each other, and that's not true. They were two different individuals with two different purposes of life."

The response from the students who attended was positive. The actors received a standing ovation and applause from the audience. Students took the opportunity to meet and talk with them after the play.