CO-WORLD PREMIERE
Malcolm x & Redd foxx washing dishes at jimmy’s chicken shack in harlem
by jonathan norton
directed by dexter j. singleton
april 8 - 26, 2026
1943. Two young Harlemites form a friendship over leftover fried chicken and dirty dishwater. But a long, hot summer of heartbreak, betrayal, and racial uprisings moves them closer to the men they will become and farther from each other. This electrifying world premiere blends sharp humor with raw humanity, revealing the laughter, struggle, and brotherhood that shaped two legends.
Produced in partnership with Theatre Squared, City Theatre, and Dallas Theater Center.
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Run Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission
Audience Recommendation: Ages 14+
Content Advisory: Profanity and strong adult language; simulated use of cocaine and discussion about drugs and their paraphernalia.
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April 8-10 | Preview Performances
April 10 | Pride Night with a post-show drag show with Vivian Devereux Valentine.
April 11 @ 7:30PM | Opening Night Performance
April 12 @ 2:00PM | Post Show Talkback
April 12 | Divine 9 Reception
April 18 @ 2:00PM | Audio Description & Open Captioning*
April 18 @ 7:30PM | ASL Performance*
April 19 @ 2:00PM | Post Show Talkback
April 19 @ 7:30PM | Pay What You Choose
April 25 @ 2:00PM | Theatre for Everyone*Seating for Audio Description & Open Captioning is provided in the Orchestra Left. Please use promo code “AccessVA” on checkout for proper booking.
*Seating for ASL is provided in the Orchestra Left side of the House. Please use promo code “ASL” on checkout for proper booking.
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Directed by DEXTER J. SINGLETON
Scenic Designer KIMBERLY V. POWERS§
Costume Designer CLAUDIA BROWNLEE
Lighting Designer LEVI WILKINS
Sound Designer HOWARD PATTERSON
Assistant Sound Designer GLOR MANCILLA
Production Stage Manager TAYLOR MESZAROS*
Assistant Stage Manager KIM FULLER*† Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Inc., an independent labor union.
§ Member of United Scenic Artists, local USA-829 of the IATSE
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States -
This production is a Co-World Premiere Produced by TheatreSquared (Fayetteville,AR), City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh, PA), Virginia Stage Company (Norfolk, VA) and Dallas Theater Center (Dallas, TX).
CITY THEATRE Founded in 1975, City Theatre is in its 51st season as Pittsburgh’s home for bold new plays. Located in the historic South Side on its four-building cultural campus, the company produces a season of regional and world premieres; its renowned Young Playwrights Festival, now in its 26th year; a season-long reading series of new works in progress; and the annual Momentum Festival. City Theatre’s mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience. With an annual average operating budget of over $3.3M, City Theatre is the largest performing arts organization not located in Pittsburgh’s downtown Cultural District and is a constituent and core member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and the National New Play Network (NNPN). Clare Drobot serves as Artistic Director alongside Managing Director James McNeel. Learn more at CityTheatreCompany.org.
DALLAS THEATER CENTER is one of the leading regional theaters in the country and the recipient of the 2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Dallas Theater Center (DTC) is committed to producing theater with resident artists that illuminate diverse experiences and spark collaboration and dialogue. Founded in 1959, DTC produces a year-round subscription series of classics, musicals, and new plays for more than 50,000 North Texas residents annually.THEATRESQUARED’s signature offering of bold new plays in an intimate setting has driven its growth to become the state’s largest theatre, welcoming more than 80,000 community members to 350 performances and events each year. The company is Northwest Arkansas’s professional nonprofit theatre, offering a unique audience experience of immersive, professional productions in an intimate setting. Its pioneering work has been recognized with the 2022 Obie Award as well as critical acclaim from The New York Times (“Best Theater of 2020” list), The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NPR’s All Things Considered, and the American Theater Wing, founder of the Tony Awards.
TheatreSquared’s audience includes tens of thousands of students and their teachers. The theatre partners with schools from Northwest Arkansas to the Delta Region, working to give students in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri access to live performances and arts-based learning tools.
TheatreSquared employs trained artists from across the country to create its performances at the theatre, in schools, and online. The theatre is also one of mid-America’s leading new play laboratories, having supported the development of more than 70 scripts.
TheatreSquared’s remarkable expansion parallels the emergence of its home region in the northwest corner of Arkansas as a booming population center and destination for American art. Since its founding in 2005, TheatreSquared’s work has remained rooted in its founding vision, that “theatre—done well and with passion—can transform lives and communities.
The cast:
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EDWIN GREEN (Little) is a NYC based actor & writer who has been attached to Malcolm X and Redd Foxxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem since the first reading of it at the off-broadway theatre, Primary Stages in New York City in April 2024. Notable credits include Eljert Lovborg in Hedda Gabler (University of Arkansas), Macbeth / Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (SHSU) & Andre in the soon to be released psychological thriller, A Gettysburg Haunting (WolfShoulder Productions). Additionally, his one person show titled Memento Mori was written and performed in the spring of 2022; Edwin holds a B.F.A in Acting and Directing from Sam Houston State University and an M.F.A in Acting from the University of Arkansas.
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Actor, Comedian, Jordan Williams (FOXY) makes an exciting debut at Virginia Stage Company. He recently appeared in FAT HAM as (TIO) in a coproduction between TheaterSquared and City Theatre. He also appeared in A Raisin in the Sun (GEORGE) at Theatre Squared. Recently, Jordan played Claudio in the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre Festivals production of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Jordan is a professional stand up comedian who performs at comedy clubs such as The Laugh Factory Hollywood , the J-Spot in Inglewood, The Comedy Union and The Comedy Store in Hollywood. He holds an MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas Fayetteville. Follow @importantjordan on all social media platforms to stay updated on his journey!
*denotes Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Learn more:
“Marvelous comic timing” — The Virginian-Pilot
Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem is earning praise from The Virginian-Pilot as an “important historical comedy,” highlighting the “marvelous comic timing” of Edwin Green and Jordan Williams.
Funny, bold, and unexpected, this two-person play explores Malcolm X and Redd Foxx before they became icons.
Read the full review below, then see it for yourself at the Wells Theatre through April 26.