‘Malcolm X & Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem’ Continues at City (Wed., 2/4/26)

MALCOLM X & REDD FOXX WASHING DISHES AT JIMMY’S CHICKEN SHACK IN HARLEM  by Jonathan Norton. City Theatre. Through February 8

It’s true. Malcolm Little (before his conversion to the Nation of Islam) met John Elroy Sanford (aka comedian Redd Foxx) while working as dishwashers at the once-famed Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem in the mid-1940s. Whether or not they became best friends as a result of this gig, whether or not they confided in each other their ambitions to right civil wrongs or activate political winds, whether or not either had premonitions of fame and purpose is––and can only be––the subject of Jonathan Norton’s sometime comedy and otherwise prophetic study of two men whose contributions to equal rights changed America. The year was 1943 when the two men first met, but it’s true, too, that Malcolm X gave credit to Foxx years later as the funniest dishwasher he’d ever known. Perhaps more famously, Redd Foxx had issues with drug abuse and tax evasion in later years. City Theatre’s production notes warn audiences of these subject matters. Dexter J. Singleton directs.

Malcom X & Redd Foxx Washing Dishes… is a co-world premiere, produced by Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in alliance with TheatreSquared (Fayetteville, Arkansas), Virginia Stage Company (Norfolk), and Dallas Theater Center. 1 and 7:30 p.m. 1300 Bingham Street, South Side.  (C.P.O.)

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