Today, Saturday, May 30, 2015, the Bay Area celebrated the transition to ancestorhood of Michael Lange, educator, filmmaker, theatre director, actor, singer. Michael was the son of Bay Area media diva Jerri Lange and brother of actor Ted Lange (Love Boat). Folks packed St. Columba Church on San Pablo to celebrate our dear brother, one of the kindest souls who walked the planet earth. He was repeatedly described as a true trooper, true friend, brother and fighter for social justice. He directed and/or produced and performed in plays on Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others. In 1980 he helped Marvin X plan the Black Men's Conference at the Oakland Auditorium.
Plans are in motion to establish the Michael Lange Foundation. Paul Cobb, Oakland Post News Group Publisher, made the first donation to the foundation. As part of the Black Arts Movement District along 14th Street, downtown Oakland, from Martin Luther King, Jr to Alice Street, Marvin X is calling for Alice Street to be renamed Michael Lange Way.--Marvin X
May 28, 2015
by Wanda Sabir
Michael Lange
The thrill isn’t gone, but certainly without BB King (Sept. 16,
1925-May 14, 2015) singing it, living it, being an example of it, well –
the world without him and his faithful Lucille will not be quite the
same any longer. Good times? Well, they are on “pause” presently.
And then there is Michael Lange, our Malcolm X. Michael made his
transition May 20, the day after what would have been Malcolm X’s 90
th
birthday. Michael was 66. His mother, Jerri Lange, made 90 this year.
She and El Hajj Malik El Shabazz were age mates. Michael’s Memorial
Celebration is Saturday, May 30, 12 noon, at St. Columba Catholic
Church, 6401 San Pablo Ave., Emeryville, CA, 94608.
I never knew El Hajj Malik Shabazz, so when I saw Michael perform his
speech, “Ballots or Bullets,” the first time in the James Moore Theatre
at the Oakland Museum, I was mesmerized. I knew it wasn’t MX but
certainly in front of me was a man who’d channeled his energy and
brought him to life. Michael later performed this piece again at an
event at West Oakland Branch Library I hosted honoring Malcolm X.
Imam Abu Qadir El Amin spoke about El Hajj Malik the Muslim and
Robert Henry Johnson performed “Creation,” a poem written by James
Weldon Johnson. I’d seen RHJ at Black Choreographers Moving Towards the
21
st Century, and he agreed to perform at our community celebration of this wonderful man’s life.
Michael
Lange and a friend pose at the reception leading into Black Media
Appreciation Night on Sept. 13, 2014. – Photo: Malaika Kambon
I don’t know if I knew Michael’s day job was running the City of
Oakland’s Feather River Camp then. However, when I was hired one summer
to teacher a writing class – California Gold Rush History – his office
was a great place to hang out. Slim’s guitar and boots were near the
door and as a staff and camper that first summer, I was treated to the
talent night where Michael as Slim emceed and performed.
I went to Feather River Camp a few more times over the years with my
granddaughter and nieces for camp cleanups and Family Camp. Even after
the City of Oakland no longer ran it, Slim would still come up and
perform and teach music workshops.
Michael was so generous. His was a life completely devoted to
service. I loved the way he took care of his mother too. Theirs was an
example of reciprocity, teamwork and loving kindness.
He and I also sat on the board for the Northern California Center for
African American History and Life, the trustees of the archives that
the African American Museum and Library, Oakland, houses. Michael was
the president. He served until he had a heart attack – his body’s
message to him to slow it down.
He listened and devoted himself full throttle to art. He directed
films and plays. In fact, when he died, a play going up at the Black Rep
was in rehearsal. He was also working on a film. Michael led a really
full life.
Jerri
and Michael Lange stand in front of Jerri’s portrait in the renowned
Alice Street Mural in downtown Oakland. Journalist Jerri Lange, 90,
mother of thespians Michael and Ted Lange, was one of the Bay Area’s
first African-American women radio and TV personalities and also a
professor at San Francisco State University.
I think his portrayal of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in America’s
“The Expulsion of Malcolm X,” which he also directed, was brilliant, as
was his stunning performance of William Grimes, a fugitive slave who
wrote about the tyranny of captivity and published the book too (1825)
in Regina E. Mason’s play based on her great-great-great grandfather’s
life.
Yearly at the Oakland Ensemble Theatre, I would look forward to the
seasonal productions of Jeff Stetson’s “The Meeting,” which Michael, as
Malcolm X, would perform opposite James Brooks as Martin King.
For a while Michael and Lonnie Elder had a theatre in Oakland called
the Bay Area Repertory Theater, where they produced original work and
classics. One of the pieces mounted was Michael’s “Prophet Nat,” a
musical docu-drama that explores the life of enslaved prophet Nat
Turner, who led the first successful rebellion of enslaved Africans in
Virginia in 1831. As a storyteller and singer, Michael has penned over
40 songs whose lyrics convey a story of hope at a time when today’s
world is at the crossroads between freedom and oppression. It was a
really wonderful production.
James
Brooks and Michael Lange perform a staged reading of Frederick
Douglass’ “What to the American Slave is the Fourth of July” on July 3,
2007. – Photo: Wanda Sabir
When the Oakland Public Conservatory was on Franklin, their
Alternative July 4 event featured Michael and James Brooks performing a
staged reading of Frederick Douglass’ “What to the American Slave is the
Fourth of July.”
For a while Michael managed what was then the Alice Arts Center.
There he and Edsel Matthews, founder of Koncepts Cultural Gallery, would
have great conversations. At his farewell salute the evening he made
his exit, ideas flowed unabated as people thought about Michael’s life
and his legacy – the Michael Lange Foundation, a street named after him
were just a few ideas contemplated.
