VIDEO: Marco Ramirez's THE ROYALE Explores The Rise and Fall of a Black Heavyweight Champion

Nearly fifty years ago, Howard Sackler's Tony-winning play, THE GREAT WHITE HOPE, gave young James Earl Jones the first great stage role of his legendary career.

Jones took home the Best Actor Tony for playing Jack Jefferson, a fictionalized version of boxing legend Jack Johnson, who infuriated whites in 1908 by becoming the sport's first black heavyweight champion. The search for a "great white hope" to regain the belt for their race ending with a controversial win by Jess Willard in 1915.

There a many ways to tell a story, and now it's time for playwright Marco Ramirez to step into the ring with The Royale, which is also loosely based on the real-life experiences of Jack Johnson. As describe by Lincoln Center Theatre, The Royale is "the fictional story of Jay "The Sport" Johnson, a charismatic Negro Heavyweight Champion. It's 1905 and as Johnson faces his opponents - and confronts his demons - he exposes the troublesome events in his life that have propelled him into the ring with a burning desire to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world."

Khris Davis plays Jackson, and here he talks a little about a system that can take a man from being the heavyweight champion of the world to being a sideshow attraction.

Marco Ramirez has had plays produced at The Kennedy Center, Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays, San Diego's Old Globe, London's Bush Theatre, and the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. His honors include Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship, the Lecomte du Nouy Award, and TCG's Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. A WGA and Emmy Award nominated television writer, his credits include "Sons of Anarchy" (FX), "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix), "Fear The Walking Dead" (AMC), and Marvel's "Daredevil" (Netflix).

Director Rachel Chavkin developed and directed the recent, critically-acclaimed LCT3 production of Dave Malloy's Preludes and previously directed THE ROYALE at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Her Off-Broadway credits include Bess Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova); Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova, Kazino); The TEAM's RoosevElvis (Bushwick Starr, Vineyard Theatre with PS122); Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy, and Dave Malloy's Three Pianos (Incubator, New York Theatre Workshop, ART); Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge (Act II, HERE); James Monaco and Jerome Ellis' Aaron/Marie (with Annie Tippe, Under the Radar Incoming). Regional/UK: The TEAM and Heather Christian's Mission Drift (London's National Theatre), Meg Miroshnik's Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep), Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (Northern Stage, English National Tour). She is Artistic Director of the Brooklyn-based experimental ensemble The TEAM.

THE ROYALE begins performances Thursday, February 11, opening Monday, March 7 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).