Bayard Rustin | Photo courtesy of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
‘Loving is Key’ | Antioch College celebrates Bayard Rustin, Coretta Scott King
- Published: April 24, 2025
Antioch College’s Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom will present “Loving is the Key: A Performance Collage about Bayard Rustin and Coretta Scott King,” on Sunday, April 27, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Foundry Theater. The performance will be given in celebration of Coretta Scott King’s birthday and the 60th anniversary of Bayard Rustin’s 1965 speech at the college.
“Loving is the Key” was created by Queen Meccasia Zabriskie, associate professor of sociology and performance studies and director of the Coretta Scott King Center, and Forest Bright, associate professor of art and chair of the Art Division at Antioch College. The event, presented in collaboration with the World House Choir, will feature singing, dance, poetry, visual art and a staged reading of an original play.
Set in a rural midwestern community in the aftermath of the vandalism of a public mural, “Loving is the Key” reenacts excerpts from the speech that Bayard Rustin delivered at Antioch College on April 6, 1965, and Coretta Scott King’s 1982 Antioch College commencement speech in order to glean lessons from their speeches that can facilitate collective healing and positive social change. The play also draws on research about Coretta Scott King and Bayard Rustin as well as aspects of Bright and Zabriskie’s lived experience in Yellow Springs, Ohio; Sarasota, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia.
The performance concludes with a video collage created by Antioch College student Lark Orbe of individuals in the Yellow Springs and Antioch communities discussing their understanding of loving practices necessary for social change. The idea of a loving practice comes from the work of Black feminist cultural critic and theorist bell hooks in her book “All about Love” and consists of actions that resist oppression and domination.
The idea for this collaboration developed out of a conversation between Forest Bright and Antioch College archivist Scott Sanders. Sanders was looking at Bayard Rustin’s speech in response to Rustin’s partner, Walter Nagle, inquiring about an audio recording of the speech. After realizing that it was the 60th anniversary of Rustin’s speech, Bright reached out to Kevin McGruder — who plays Rustin in the performance — Sanders and Zabriskie to begin planning a commemorative reenactment of the speech.
“Loving is the Key” is the result of subsequent conversations between Zabriskie and Bright, and includes an excerpt from the interview that they were able to conduct with Walter Nagle through the help of McGruder. Also in the performance is Gini Meekin, a student at Yellow Springs High School; Muhammad Nguer, a student at Mills Lawn Elementary School; Dio Smith, a student at Antioch College; and Corretta King, associate dean of admissions at Antioch College. Valerie Blackwell-Truit will offer interpretive dance selections and the World House Choir, directed by Cathy Roma, will sing during the performance.
The community is invited to come to the Foundry theater at 6:30 p.m. to participate in the creation of an interactive art piece prior to the start of the performance. There will also be a small reception with desserts from Sugar Witch Magical Treats in celebration of Coretta Scott King’s birthday after the performance. King, who died on January 30, 2006, would have turned 98 on April 27.
Tickets are available by donation in advance at antiochcollege.edu/cskc or at the door.
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