Ricardo Pitts-Wiley as Martin Luther King and Jeannie Carson as Coretta Scott King.

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Jim Webster, Jeannie Carson, Danette Briggs.

Mixed Magic Theatre will present When Fate Comes Knocking, a new play that views the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King through the eyes of people who observed his life and the national and world events that would shape him. Writer/Director Ricardo Pitts-Wiley describes When Fate Comes Knocking as a “pea shelling play.” The characters in the show, in a time honored southern tradition, gather on a porch in the early evening to shell peas, converse, sing and comment on the times. The cast includes Jim Webster, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Jeannie Carson and Danette Briggs.

Martin Luther King is an iconic and heroic figure who led the American Civil Rights movement with courage, determination, and great oratory skill. He has also become a symbol around the world for people who are in a struggle for human rights and justice. When Fate Comes Knocking takes a humorous and sometimes critical look at King’s life against a backdrop of dramatic times in America including the Montgomery bus boycott, the Kennedy presidency, the March on Washington, Malcolm X, the Vietnam War, LBJ, Hoover and the Black Panthers. The play also examines the fateful circumstances that took King from the privileged life of a prominent southern preacher’s son to the dusty and dangerous back roads of Alabama, Mississippi, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the Nobel Peace Prize.

A folk thought discussion will follow each performance. When Fate Comes Knocking will be showing on February 5 – 15, Thursdays at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. at Mixed Magic Theatre, 171 Main Street in Pawtucket, RI. Tickets are $15 General Admission; $10 Students and Seniors. For information and reservations call 401-305-7333.