The Royale at the American Players Theater: The Shoulders We Stand On
Jamal James (l) plays the central character Jay Jackson and Tyrone Phillips directs The Royale, a fictional account of the life of Jack Johnson, America’s first heavyweight fighter
Part 2 of 2
By Jonathan Gramling
As I drove out to Spring Green and the American Players Theater, I couldn’t get the thought about “The Great White Hope” out of my head. It was the film released in 1970; a fictionalized account of the life of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight fighter to win the World Championship title. The racism was so fierce back then that Congress passed a law in 1912 that banned the shipping of boxing films across state lines in fear that race riots would break out when whites saw a Black man pummeling a white contender.
I was driving out to American Players Theater to interview Tyron Phillips, the director of The Royale, a fictionalized account of Johnson’s life during his heavyweight years, and Jamal James who plays Jay Johnson, the fictionalized Jack Johnson character. They both find the character of Jay Johnson to be profound.
“We start in 1905,” Phillips said about the play. “By the end of the play, in 1910, will he become the first Black heavyweight champion? Hopefully at the end, the audience links it to now. What does freedom really look like? What are the things in the way? It seemed like he was free and no one could tell him or constrain him in this world. Who can give you that? It’s also the confidence that Jamal said. I’m working on this play the first time, directing it for the first time professionally. It was like, ‘Oh My God, I need to stop apologizing for who I am, who I am as a director, who I am as an artist and my communication.’ I was like, ‘Oh Jack, I want to walk in a room — I still want to learn — and there are still things I am fighting that I am not aware of. I want to attack it with myself, with clarity and a vision to say, ‘It’s okay. I want to be the best.’”
“Sometimes Tyrone and I are talking and everyone else would jump in on that conversation of where we don’t want people to watch the play and go, ‘Oh this person is one note,’” James emphasized. “You can read some of this stuff and go, ‘This person is one note.’ But it’s not that. He’s charming. He’s vivacious. He’s strong. He’s guarded. There are times when he can be a bit monstrous and aggressive. But he is also very soft and very compassionate and very royal. There is a childlike quality to him where there is a boy and a man competing within this boxer. I’m trying to master what it means to have access to all of those emotions in him.”
And both of them are aware of the impact that Johnson had on American society.
“What are those things that are hindrances that are not talked about, that I have to learn later on,” Phillips asked. “When I found out that they banned the playing of the footage of Jack Johnson winning that first fight — the government banned it — that is what got me excited about this play. Literally, we’re going back and saying, ‘This is how it is done though.’ You can ban something. You can silence someone. And those are the ways in which I feel it is most powerful for you to walk in with a theater company that is all about equity, especially in theater. I find talking in with my elders, they tell me the tricks. They tell me, ‘Oh, this organization does this.’ They have given me the path to say, ‘Don’t waste your energy fighting that battle. Go over here and fight this one.’ I’m about progress and change. How can I make it happen? And I do want it fast. I want change to happen immediately. For that to happen, I have to be aware of the previous history. We all walk into this play with a shared American history. And then we all leave into this real world right now that is still trying to hold itself accountable to saying that ‘Black Lives Matter.’ I don’t think we are there. We said it. We had the marches. We had the protests. We said we are giving monies to the communities. But I haven’t really seen the money reach the community yet.”
For James, Johnson was a pioneer whose shoulders would be stood on for generations to come.
“There wouldn’t be a Muhammed Ali,” James said. “There wouldn’t be a Mike Tyson. Muhammed Ali gives a lot of credit to Jack Johnson existing where he got his swagger from and where he got his voice. He heard of Jack Johnson. And between 1905 and 1910 and when he won in Reno, you see pictures of him and he is smiling about it. He could have won that fight easily, but people thought if he won in Round Two, people might have tried to swarm the stage and kill him. But he took the time to not humiliate the champion until Round Seven when he was like, ‘This needs to go.’ The dude didn’t stand any chance. It wasn’t a time when boxing had a technique. It was just a matter if you were bigger and the best and he was just the best. That’s it. He would go into the ring and laugh and smile and he would box. He would make everything a show. But he always won and he always had this smile on his face in all the pictures. People didn’t like that. White men didn’t like that. They didn’t like him being with white women, smiling and crossing state lines and what-have-you. He wouldn’t take just one white woman. It would be 2-3 following him around. They would be like, ‘This is not okay.’ But he was like, ‘I won. I should deserve the exact same power that you manipulate and use during that time. I’m an equal individual to you.’ It’s fascinating that literally other Black people were being killed for that exact thing. For whistling like Emmett Till. That is something that I have heard since I was a child. To read about Jack, it was like, ‘Oh My God, he was ahead of his time.’ That’s what was ringing in my head. ‘Ahead of his time.’ I feel like that phrase was made for him.”
The Royale is a transformative work of art that Phillips and James feel is well worth the drive to Spring Green.
“Do you know the story of Jack Johnson,” Phillips asked. “I think that’s enough because most people will say no. I think truly, most people will say no. But they know Muhammed Ali. They know other figures. But if you don’t the story of Jack Johnson, if you don’t know the trials and tribulations that he faced, if you need something to inspire you to be great or whatever you do, even boxing, it’s this story. This story challenges us and asks us, ‘What does it mean to be the best? What in your lifestyle has to change to reach a certain level of success?’ Who are you becoming is something that I think this play also asks. When we see him, he isn’t a champion yet. But I think the one thing to note is he is on track, on mission to do this thing. I am excited for people to come and just learn about who this man was. Once we get them in the theater, that’s the ticket. We’ve got them. They’re trapped. It’s 90 minutes straight through. There is no time to run away.”
“I would say if you are looking for renewal, transformation or a piece of theater that sticks with you, this is the show to see,” James added. “I know for a fact that when I did it in 2019, it changed my life just being a part of it. And I feel that way even being in the space here today five years later. And I believe the audience will feel the same way. My thing is that if you haven’t gotten a ticket for this show, you are missing out. That’s it. You are going to miss out. People are going to talk about this play and it is going to be around town. People will be like, ‘Oh, did you see The Royale?’ And if you didn’t get a ticket, sorry, but you missed out. It’s not to say that the other shows aren’t great. I believe in APT and the actors here are some off the best people I’ve worked with and I think they are the best working actors in the country. But I am telling you right now, if you miss out on this show, you’re going to kick yourself in the foot.”
The Royale is a theatrical place where fact and fiction fuse together to produce truths that are still relevant today. As the saying goes, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” Reach back into Black history to understand the reality of today. It’s the Sankofa thing to do.
The American Players Theater’s production The Royale runs through September 27th in its Touchstone Theater. Tickets can be purchased at https://americanplayers.org/. Use the promotional code HUES23 to get a 25 percent discount.
And both of them are aware of the impact that Johnson had on American society.
