Lantern Theater Company Presents Philadelphia Premiere Of THE ROYALE

Lantern Theater Company continues its 2022/23 season with the Philadelphia premiere of The Royale by award-winning American playwright Marco Ramirez. Philadelphia theater artist Zuhairah McGill makes her Lantern directorial debut, leading an ensemble cast of Philadelphia actors that includes Phillip Brown, Morgan Charéce Hall, Gregory Isaac, Brian Anthony Wilson, and Kahlil A. Wyatt.

The Royale runs Thursday, November 10 through Sunday, December 11, 2022, at St. Stephen's Theater, the Lantern's resident venue; a complete schedule of performances and audience enrichment events is included in the fact sheet below. Theater critics and members of the press are invited to request press tickets for opening night on Wednesday, November 16 at 7 p.m. by contacting Anne Shuff at ashuff@lanterntheater.org. To ensure a safe and comfortable theater experience, everyone other than the actors on stage are required to wear properly fitted masks while attending The Royale.

Hailed as "riveting," "original and graceful," and "gripping" by Variety, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune, respectively, The Royale takes inspiration from the life of Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight world boxing champion. Marco Ramirez's drama is filled with the rhythms of the ring and of the people fighting for freedom, dignity, and success in a fascinating and important chapter in our national story.

Set in the early 1900s, boxer Jay "The Sport" Jackson is the Negro Heavyweight Champion in a segregated world. "So good at the sport that they call him 'The Sport,'" Jackson dreams of becoming the unquestioned heavyweight champion of the world. His fight promoter, Max, is able to organize "the fight of the century" between Jay and Bixby, the reigning white heavyweight champion - on the condition that Jay allows Bixby to collect 90 percent of the purse, win or lose. But just before the match, Jay's sister Nina visits him to express her fear of the dangers that their community will face if he wins: "I think you're so caught up in playing David to Goliath, in being the one fish swimming upstream, I think you up and forgot about the rest of us, the ones ain't as strong as you." Jay is forced to confront his desire to break barriers in the ring - and the external consequences that he and his community will surely face if he does. The Royale's inventive staging resonantly connects the personal and political while exploring powerful tensions between opportunity and inequality.

"Marco Ramirez has created a powerful and moving story of personal triumph that turns the country on its head," said Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon. "Loosely based on the story of the great Jack Johnson, The Royale takes us back to a pivotal moment in the struggle of Black Americans for respect and the full rights of citizenship."

"This play means so much to me as a director because I am a fighter just like Jack Johnson was," said Zuhairah McGill, who directs the Lantern's production. "But more than that it's not just me, but all African Americans who are still in the ring fighting. At the height of the Jim Crow Era, this man was able to rise above it all, they say. But I say: We are in The New Jim Crow. Jack Johnson insisted on being free, and in 2022 we are still insisting."

"Even beyond being a boxer, Johnson is remembered for being a guy who pushed boundaries," Marco Ramirez said of his play. "His true legacy isn't just an athletic one, it's cultural. It was shocking, how relevant his persona was to the 21st century. Many of the people in this country still struggle when cultural icons make declarations that seem 'too political' for the personas they've created as artists or athletes. Just consider the responses to Beyoncé's overtly political halftime performance at the 2016 Superbowl... They love her music when it's all fun and games. They don't when she asks them to confront systematic racism. It's weirdly the same conversation people had around Jack Johnson... There are so many boxer stories about whether the boxer can win the fight. In the world of theater, it is more of a moral and ethical question about whether he should win the fight." Originally produced by Center Theatre Group in 2013 and Lincoln Center Theater in 2016, The Royale went on to win an Outer Critics Circle's John Gassner Playwriting Award and multiple Drama Desk Award nominations.

Lantern Theater Company will delve deeper into the themes of The Royale on its Lantern Searchlight blog, available online at lanterntheater.org/searchlight. Articles will be published throughout the production's run, exploring the play's historical context, the history of Jack Johnson and the sport of boxing, behind the scenes interviews with the artists, and more.

Tickets for The Royale are $25 - $42 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Discounts are available for students, seniors 65 and up, U.S. military personnel, and groups of 10 or more. Performances of The Royale will take place at St. Stephen's Theater, located at 923 Ludlow Street in Center City Philadelphia. During the 2022/23 season, the Lantern will announce updated health and safety guidelines 30 days prior to the start of each production. For The Royale, everyone other than the actors on stage must wear properly fitted masks at all times in all parts of the Lantern performance venue, including the lobby, performance space, restrooms, and stairwells. More detailed information is available at lanterntheater.org/health-and-safety.

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