A play by Kemp Powers

The night of February 25th, 1964 a young Cassius Clay emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center as the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Against all odds, he’s defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the world of boxing. While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach’s hotspots to celebrate the match, Clay, unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws, spends the night at the Hampton House Motel celebrating with three of his friends: activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke, and football star Jim Brown. The next morning, the men emerge determined to define a new world.

In One Night in Miami…, critically-acclaimed playwright Kemp Powers aims to pinpoint exactly what happened during those pivotal hours. Featuring the music of Sam Cooke, including his hit song, “A Change is Gonna Come,” the show sets out to answer this question by offering a piercing narrative for the evening, which challenges the four men, strips them bare, and reveals them for who they were.