![]() ![]() In addition, he says, the show’s director has the cast practicing fight choreography the first part of rehearsals and before each performance. To prepare physically for the role, he began training in September and rode a bike to rehearsals to keep up his stamina and endurance. There haven’t been many projects in terms of movies and stage plays about him, so I felt like this was a chance to be a part of something amazing.” What sets this role apart from the others, he says, is “the opportunity to honor one of the most, if not the most, iconic figure in sports history, Muhammad Ali. Taking the title role of Cassius Clay is Rapheal Hamilton, who has been in several previous Black Theatre Troupe productions: “Broke-ology,” “Two Trains Running” and “Seven Guitars.” Which means I’m continuing to learn after so many years in theater.” “It’s given me the opportunity to look at the show from two different, distinct angles, and how I must meld both to tell a cohesive story. “But I love the challenge this play presents to me,” he adds. “I usually do one or the other, not both.” In fact, he’s only done both once before, when he was still in school. ![]() Johnson says his major challenge with “And in This Corner” is that he both directs the show and choreographs the fights. “Childsplay approached Black Theatre Troupe with the idea of a partnership, because we knew that they had the expertise with shows dealing with African-American experiences,” Hartford says, adding “I love the idea of collaborating with another Valley institution, especially one of BTT’s prestige and caliber.”ĭirecting the production is nationally acclaimed fight director and master instructor Michael Jerome Johnson, whose work has been seen at the Kennedy Center and the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Older Phoenix residents may remember that Ali even appeared on “The Wallace and Ladmo Show,” a long-running local children’s TV program. The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center was established in 1997 at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. He lived in Arizona for many years and was actively involved in research for Parkinson’s disease in Arizona. “I felt that it was an important story for all young people, but with Muhammad Ali’s connection to Phoenix, especially relevant to Arizona audiences.”Īli died on June 3, 2016, at age 74 in a Scottsdale hospital. Hartford says he fell in love with the play as soon as he read it. “It’s written for young audiences and families, which is of course what Childsplay does.” “The short answer is we both love the script by Idris Goodwin,” says Dwayne Hartford, Childsplay’s artistic director. How did these two theater companies decide to team up? It takes place in and around Louisville, Kentucky, where Ali was born, and ends at the start of his professional boxing career as he reaches young adulthood.Ĭo-producing the production are Childsplay, a nationally renowned theater for young audiences, and Black Theatre Troupe, one of the longest-running black theater companies in the United States. Mason Performing Arts Center in Phoenix on weekends Jan. His story is told in “And in This Corner: Cassius Clay,” coming to the Helen K. Before becoming a strong civil rights advocate and one of the world’s greatest boxers known as Muhammad Ali, he was a boy learning to navigate life in the 1950s segregated South. Photo by Tim Trumble, courtesy of Childsplay.Ī bell sounds, and a young fighter named Cassius Clay Jr. ![]() Rapheal Hamilton plays Cassius, later known as Muhammad Ali. Black Theatre Troupe and Childsplay team up to present “And in This Corner: Cassius Clay” Jan.
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