by April Helms

Special Products Editor

Northeast Ohio audiences will get a chance to see a production that hasn't been staged since 1977 in Ohio, compliments of three area theaters, said director Terrence Spivey.

The theaters -- Weathervane Playhouse in Akron, and Karamu House and Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland -- have combined forces to present "The Great White Hope."

The story centers on Jack Jefferson, a prize-winning boxer who is a fictionalized version of Jack Johnson, the American fighter who in 1908 became the first black heavyweight champion of the world. Howard Sackler's Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama charts Jefferson's tumultuous career after he becomes a champion and explores the nature of racism and racial conflict.

The play finished its run at Karamu House March 14, and is currently gearing up for a three-week showing at Weathervane from April 1 through 18. Spivey helmed the Karamu production and is directing the show at Weathervane. The show stars Anthony Elfonzia Nickerson-El as Jack Jefferson, Ursula Cataan as Eleanor Bachman and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones as Tick. The cast includes more than 40 actors, some who will be coming from the Cleveland-area shows, and others cast locally.

Spivey said while the play deals with race issues of the era, it is more a play about the human condition.

"Jack was a man ahead of his time," Spivey said of the real-life boxer. "He was in a time when a black man could be hung for any reason. He flaunted his fashions, the conventions, the white women he dated. It's still relevant today. Jack Johnson was his own individual, he didn't try to please anyone. Also at this time, the black church was strong, very strong. For this man to say 'you can't tell me what to do' to the black church, it was like he came from another planet."

The script has been trimmed from the Cleveland production, which had run about three hours, Spivey said; the show in Akron will run about 2 1/2 hours. "Great White Hope" also will feature multimedia elements "to make it a lot leaner," Spivey added. Images from different locales where Jefferson travels to will be projected.

"It can help take the audience on Jack's journey," he said. "Many in our audiences today are used to visual, with Internet and projections. It gives us more room to have a blank canvas on the stage. It allows us to work with the smaller space and gives this play, a classic, a freshness."

Weathervane costumer Jasen Smith said there were more than 300 costumes for the show, which starts in 1906 and ends in 1919, right after World War I.

"We have to keep in mind the changes to women's clothing and hairstyles during this time," Smith said, who added there also are 50 hats and "20-some wigs."

One challenge for costuming the show was finding period boxing gloves, shoes and other gear, Smith said. For example, back in the 1900s, boxing shorts would have been made of wool, which would have been scratchy, hot and not conducive to stage work. For the production, the boxer shorts were made of polar fleece, which has a similar look but stretches.

John Hedges, executive director at Weathervane Playhouse, said the collaboration between the three theaters "has been a year in the making."

"I started talking to Terrence last winter," Hedges said. "I'm really looking forward to putting this show together for our audiences. A lot of theaters don't have the wherewithal to produce this. It took the resources of all three theaters to stage it."

Ticket and show information

"The Great White Hope" plays on Weathervane Playhouse's Founders Theater stage from April 1 to 18.

A preview performance will be staged April 1; the official opening-night performance is April 2 at 8 p.m.

Between April 2 and 18, performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. There will be no performance on Easter Sunday, April 4.

Tickets for the April 1 preview performance are $15. Tickets for performances after April 1 are $21. There will be $19 tickets for seniors and college students for Thursday and Sunday performances. Tickets for children ages 17 and younger are $17 for all performances after April 1. Discounted tickets are also available for groups of 12 or larger.

Due to language and adult situations, "The Great White Hope" is not recommended for children under the age of 13.

For tickets, call the Weathervane box office at 330-836-2626 or visit www.weathervaneplayhouse.com online.

E-mail: ahelms@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3153