The Royale

October 4 - November 2, 2014
(Opening Night: Thursday, October 9, 8:00 p.m.)
Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

By Marco Ramirez
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Scenic Design by Nicholas Vaughan
Costume Design by Denitsa Bliznakova
Lighting Design by Austin R. Smith
Sound Design by Matt Hubbs
Casting by Caparelliotis Casting
Stage Manager, Annette Yé

Jay “The Sport” Jackson dreams of being the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. But it’s 1905, and in the segregated world of boxing, his chances are as good as knocked out. When a crooked boxing promoter hatches a plan for “the fight of the century,” The Sport just might land a place in the ring with the reigning white heavyweight champion. Loosely based on real events, Marco Ramirez’s (“Orange is the New Black”) wildly theatrical new play brings to explosive life the sights and sounds of the early 20th century boxing circuit, and the ultimate fight for a place in history. The Los Angeles Times declared, “The Royale reanimates this breakthrough saga for a new generation!”


Production Photos
Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Montego Glover as Nina and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Ray Anthony Thomas as Wynton, Robert Christopher Riley as Jay, Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish, and John Lavelle as Max in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Robert Christopher Riley as Jay and Montego Glover as Nina in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Robert Christopher Riley as Jay, John Lavelle as Max, and Ray Anthony Thomas as Wynton in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Robert Christopher Riley as Jay and Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) Robert Christopher Riley as Jay, Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish, and Ray Anthony Thomas as Wynton in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Ray Anthony Thomas as Wynton and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
(from left) John Lavelle as Max and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Montego Glover as Nina in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
Okieriete Onaodowan as Fish in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
John Lavelle as Max in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
   
   
Ray Anthony Thomas as Wynton in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.
    


Publicity Photos
(from left) Montego Glover appears as Nina, John Lavelle as Max, and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Robert Christopher Riley appears as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
(from left) John Lavelle appears as Max and Robert Christopher Riley as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
The cast of The Royale: (from left) Ray Anthony Thomas, Okieriete Onaodowan, Robert Christopher Riley, Montego Glover, and John Lavelle. Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, runs Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Robert Christopher Riley appears as Jay in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
John Lavelle appears as Max in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Montego Glover appears as Nina in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Okieriete Onaodowan appears as Fish in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Ray Anthony Thomas appears as Wynton in Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Director Rachel Chavkin. Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Chavkin, runs Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Director Rachel Chavkin (center) with the cast of The Royale: (from left) Ray Anthony Thomas, Okieriete Onaodowan, Robert Christopher Riley, Montego Glover, and John Lavelle. Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Chavkin, runs Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Ken Jacques.
Playwright Marco Ramirez. Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, will run Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.
   
   
Marco Ramirez's The Royale, directed by Rachel Chavkin, will run Oct. 4 - Nov. 2, 2014 at The Old Globe. Illustration courtesy of The Old Globe.
    


Cast and Creative Team

(click on image to download a high-resolution photo)
Montego Glover (Nina), an award-winning actress, originated the starring role of Felicia Farrell on Broadway in Memphis (Tony Award for Best Musical, 2010), for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Lead Actress in a Musical and a Drama League Award nomination, and she won both the Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance. Glover made her Broadway debut in The Color Purple and has performed at Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, The 5th Ave Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, and Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, among others. Her concert work includes The New York Pops, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Theater, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Caramoor International Music Festival, and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts (PBS special). Her television and film roles include FBI Agent Lawrence on Fox’s “The Following” as well as ABC’s “Black Box,” “Hostages,” “Smash,” “Golden Boy,” “The Good Wife,” “White Collar,” “NYC 22,” “Law & Order,” “Made in Jersey,” and the upcoming feature Alone. Her other credits include numerous commercials, voiceovers, and animated characters. Glover is a member of the Artists Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors and a New York PopsEd Ambassador.
John Lavelle (Max) has performed at The Old Globe in the 2013 Shakespeare Festival, for which he was nominated for the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, and Bell, Book, and Candle directed by Darko Tresjnak. His favorite theatre credits include Benjamin in The Graduate (Broadway), Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Company), Achilles in The Iliad (Syros Festival, Greece), Yosarian in Catch-22 (Lucille Lortel Theatre), Spatter Pattern (Playwrights Horizons), The Jew of Malta (Theatre for a New Audience), On the Razzle (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Burleigh Grimes (New World Stages), Rope (Drama Dept.), and As You Like It (The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles). He has performed regionally at La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, and Hartford Stage. Lavelle’s television and film credits include “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” “The Black Donnellys,” “Numb3rs,” “NCIS,” “Guiding Light,” “All My Children,” The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, August, Zerosome, Disney’s Frozen, and the soon-to-be-released film Selma. Lavelle is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.   
Okieriete Onaodowan (Fish) last appeared at The Old Globe in The Brothers Size. He has been seen on Broadway in Rocky directed by Alex Timbers and Cyrano de Bergerac directed by Jamie Lloyd and Off Broadway in Luce (Lincoln Center Theater), Neighbors (The Public Theater), and Langston in Harlem directed by Kent Gash. His Off Off Broadway credits include The Shipment directed by Young Jean Lee(The Kitchen) and Pontius Pilate in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Richmond Shepard Theatre). He was also seen in the first national tour of American Idiot. His regional credits include Ruined directed by Liesl Tommy (Huntington Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse), Coalhouse in Ragtime, Guys and Dolls, and an opening performer for Bernadette Peters and Brian Stokes Mitchell (New Jersey Performing Arts Center). He has been seen on television on “Blue Bloods,” “Gravity,” and “NYC 22” and on film in Thanks for Sharing. He is a graduate of The William Esper Studio. He has been featured in several readings at The Public Theater, New York Stage and Film, Lark Theatre Company, and many others.  
Robert Christopher Riley (Jay) has appeared on Broadway in Lombardi and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. His other theatre credits include Chasing Manet (Primary Stages), Fences (Hartford Stage), and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Center Stage). His film credits include The Bourne Legacy, Seasons of Love, Franny, and Sinister. He currently stars as Terrence Wall on the television series “Hit the Floor.” His other television credits include “Ironside,” “Damages,” “White Collar,” “Medium,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Royal Pains,” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Riley received his M.F.A. from Ohio University.
Ray Anthony Thomas (Wynton) was part of the Broadway company of David Mamet’s Race. His Off Broadway credits include The Most Deserving (Women’s Project), Volunteer Man, for which he received an Obie Award for Performance (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), Kindness (Playwrights Horizons), The Exonerated, Saved or Destroyed, and Black Eagles (Manhattan Theatre Club), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New York Shakespeare Festival/The Public Theater). As a member of Atlantic Theater Company, Thomas has appeared in such productions as Between Riverside and Crazy, Human Error, The Beginning of August, The Lights, Edmond, and Distant Fires. He has worked at many of the major regional theatres across the country, and his favorite credits include the original company of Water by the Spoonful (Hartford Stage, 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Glengarry Glen Ross (La Jolla Playhouse), Proctor in The Crucible (Syracuse Stage), “Master Harold”…and the Boys (Westport Country Playhouse), Topdog/Underdog (City Theatre), A.M. Sunday (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Fences (Barrymore Award nomination), and To Kill a Mockingbird (Detroit Free Press Theatre Excellence Award for Best Supporting Actor). Thomas has worked on seven of August Wilson’s 10-play cycle and was honored to appear in Fences and Jitney for NPR’s August Wilson Century Cycle. His television and film credits include Their Eyes Were Watching God, “Rescue Me,” “The Sopranos,” “Oz,” “Law & Order” (numerous episodes), “I’ll Fly Away,” Trouble with the Curve, Shutter Island, Pariah, Sleepwalk with Me, The Manchurian Candidate, and Changing Lanes. 
  Marco Ramirez (Playwright) has had plays produced at Center Theatre Group, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Black Dahlia Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, where he has twice won the Heideman Award for Best Ten-Minute Play. He studied at New York University and The Juilliard School and is currently under commission by both Playwrights Horizons and Center Theatre Group. His honors include TCG’s Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and nominations for both the Writers Guild and Emmy Awards. He was born and raised in Hialeah, Florida, but now lives in Los Angeles, where his recent television writing credits include “Sons of Anarchy” (FX) and “Orange is the New Black” (Netflix).
  Rachel Chavkin (Director) is a two-time Obie Award-winning and Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award-nominated director, and the Artistic Director of Brooklyn-based ensemble the TEAM, whose work was ranked Best of 2013 on three continents, and whose recent production, RoosevElvis, will be featured in PS122’s COIL festival in January, 2015. Her selected freelance credits include Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (world premiere at Ars Nova, commercial transfer at Kazino; The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Post Critics’ Picks), British writer/performer Chris Thorpe’s Confirmation (commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre and Battersea Arts Centre, 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award), Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (Northern Stage, U.K. national tour), Meg Miroshnik’s The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre), and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, including his extravaganza The Lily’s Revenge (world premiere at HERE). She is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, Artistic Associate at London’s Gate Theatre and Classic Stage Company, a New Georges Affiliate Artist, and alumna of Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, the Drama League Directors Project, and the Women’s Project Directors Lab. She has also taught extensively at New York University, Pace University, and other colleges. She received her B.F.A. from NYU and her M.F.A. from Columbia University.
  Nicholas Vaughan (Scenic Design) is a New York-based visual artist and scenographer. As a member of the devised theatre company the TEAM he has designed sets for RoosevElvis, Mission Drift (Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Production of a Musical), Architecting (sets and costumes), and Particularly in the Heartland. For Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival he has created sets and costumes for Il Barbiere di Siviglia (co-production with the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing), La Bohème, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, The Seven Deadly Sins, Il Trittico, Soldier’s Tale, Master Peter’s Puppet Show, The Turn of the Screw, Albert Herring, The Beggar’s Opera, and The Rape of Lucretia. His other recent projects include How to Break and Sounding (HERE Arts Center), The Obie Award-winning Lily’s Revenge (HERE/Taylor Mac), POOM2, POONARC, and Shredded (Yoshiko Chuma), and La Cenerentola, The Marriage of Figaro, and L’Ormindo (Curtis Institute of Music). He maintains an ongoing performance/installation art collaboration with his husband, Jake Margolin, currently developing 50 States, a series of installations in response to queer historical narratives, which will premiere at The Invisible Dog Art Center in 2016.
  Denitsa Bliznakova (Costume Design) is happy to return to The Old Globe where she has designed Good People, Anne Christie, Groundswell, Jane Austen’s Emma — A Musical Romantic Comedy, The Whipping Man, Opus, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Her work has been seen nationwide at venues such as San Diego Opera, Cleveland Play House, A Noise Within, New Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and others. Some of her highlights include working with Garry Marshall on Happy Days: A Family Musical! (Falcon Theatre) and Diva (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Her design and stylist credits for other media include music videos for various artists and films. A Bulgarian-born costume designer, her academic background includes a B.F.A. in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design in Paris and New York and an M.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University. Bliznakova is currently an Associate Professor at San Diego State University, where she leads the M.F.A. Costume Design program.
  Austin R. Smith (Lighting Design) is a New York City-based lighting designer working in theatre, dance, opera, live music, and the intersection thereof. Previously at The Old Globe he designed Anna Christie. His other selected credits include Queen of the Night, When January Feels Like Summer (The Ensemble Studio Theatre), Charles Ives Take Me Home and Massacre (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), Stand-Up Tragedy (site-specific), Jesus in India (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Regina Spektor’s What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (world tour), Futurity (American Repertory Theater), Sleep No More (New York City), and Three Pianos (New York Theatre Workshop, Ontological-Hysteric Theater; Obie Award). He also continues a public art collaborations with visual artist Jarrod Beck. His upcoming projects include building RoosevElvis with the TEAM.
  Matt Hubbs (Sound Design) recently designed the Globe production of Time and the Conways. He has also designed Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons), Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Kazino, Ars Nova), Marie Antoinette (Soho Repertory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre), Three Pianos (New York Theatre Workshop, American Repertory Theater), How We Got On, Death Tax, and A Devil at Noon (Humana Festival of New American Plays), Futura (National Asian American Theatre Company), The Human Scale (The Public Theater), Telephone (The Foundry Theatre), Hammock, The Matter of Origins: Tea, Blueprints of Relentless Nature, and 613 Radical Acts of Prayer (Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange), and the National Playwrights Conference (The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center). A company member of the TEAM, he has designed RoosevElvis, Mission Drift, Architecting, Particularly in the Heartland, and A Thousand Natural Shocks. He received his B.A. in Philosophy as a University Scholar at Xavier University.
  Caparelliotis Casting (Casting) recently cast the Globe productions of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Water by the Spoonful, Time and the Conways, Bethany, The Winter’s Tale, The Few, Double Indemnity, The Rainmaker, Other Desert Cities, Be a Good Little Widow, A Doll’s House, The Brothers Size, Pygmalion, and Good People. Their Broadway casting credits include It’s Only a Play, Disgraced (upcoming), Holler If Ya Hear Me, Casa Valentina, The Snow Geese, Lyle Kessler’s Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful, Grace, Dead Accounts, The Other Place, Seminar, The Columnist, Stick Fly, Good People, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The House of Blue Leaves, Fences, Lend Me a Tenor, and The Royal Family. They also cast for Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, LCT3, Ars Nova, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, and three seasons with Williamstown Theatre Festival. Their recent film and television credits include HairBrained with Brendan Fraser, “Odyssey” (upcoming, NBC series), “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC pilot), “Ironside” (NBC), and Steel Magnolias (Sony for Lifetime).
  Annette Yé (Stage Manager) served as stage manager for The Old Globe’s Quartet, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Few, Pygmalion, God of Carnage, Anna Christie, Groundswell, and the 2010 production of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Her other Globe credits include A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2011-2013), Boeing-Boeing, The First Wives Club, Opus, Dancing in the Dark, Hay Fever, and the Summer Shakespeare Festivals 2008 and 2010-2013.