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CONT’D. FROM PAGE 10

“What are the things you say behind closed doors? What are your own prejudices and secrets, and how do they affect the people you love? We are not perfect; we say the wrong things sometimes.

Either way, I hope they find this an opportunity to grow and learn, and offer other people grace.”

At The Old Globe, the world premiere of The XIXth (The Nineteenth), a new play by Kemp Powers, offers the chance to examine race and identity through the lens of international sports and politics. It’s inspired by real events from the historic 19th Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968— when two Black American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist on the podium during the U.S. national anthem, after accepting their gold and bronze medals.

THE STORY THAT DEFINED A GENERATION. AN UNMISSABLE WORLD PREMIERE.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967, the hardened hearts and aching souls of Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade and their chosen family of ‘outsiders’ are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them.

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by Charlayne Woodard directed by Claire Simba

abilities is to take a widely known historical event, peel back the layers and add some dramatic elements to the storytelling; so that we investigate the people and events that we thought we knew, and see them in a vivid, holistic, theatrical way.”

“Like One Night in Miami, I prefer to look at it as a fictional dramatization inspired by those real events,” Powers says. “Many of the things explored in the play really happened, but it is a fictional drama, not a documentary.”

Sadly, the themes of racism and activism in sport seem to be as timely today as they were in 1968. “The XIXth in particular exemplifies the bravery and courage that John Carlos, Tommie Smith and Pete Norman had,” Cofield says. “Colin Kaepernick is a 21st- century example of how a voice of protest can still be met with scorn, fear and contempt. The XIXth reminds us not to mistake popularity for leadership, because sometimes in the moment, these demonstrations are unpopular choices. I question whether we have made progress, when an athlete as respected as LeBron James is told to ‘shut up and dribble.’”

“As with any ongoing struggle, for every new thing gained, new challenges always manifest themselves,” Powers adds. “What I try to explore in my play is the generational divide in activism—how each subsequent generation jostles with (and often disagrees with) the activism of those who came before them. In the play, we explore that through the interactions of Tommie

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Smith and John Carlos with track icon Jesse Owens—who famously defeated Hitler’s Aryan ‘super-men’ in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but tried to discourage Tommie and John Carlos from protesting in Mexico City in 1968. It created a rift between them that I think speaks to a general rift that frequently occurs in the world of activism.”

Following Soul, Powers is jumping further into the world of movies, directing the next two Spider-Man films. “[Film is] a completely different medium, but my playwriting has certainly influenced the kind of filmmaker I am,” he says. “As a writer, I’ve had to make greater adjustments, as the playwright’s words are often considered sacrosanct; whereas in film ... Well, let’s just say one has to be much less precious about the words on the page. I love film and I love being a writer and director of film. That said, I will always find time to write plays. The stage is too important to me as a storyteller not to make time for it.”

Whether audiences remember the events of the 1968 Olympics or are discovering that history for the first time, Cofield says, “I hope that they come away with a deeper under- standing of and appreciation for what these three brave athletes endured before, during and after the moment captured in that iconic photo we all know so well.”

“I hope seeing the play activates audience members enough that many of them go out and explore the events surrounding that moment themselves,” Powers says. “There are so many incredible books, documentaries and interviews about the subject. Sports have always united mankind like few other things can, outside of war. I think that’s why it has always been such an effective prism through which to explore so many different elements of life.”

Don’t miss Monsters of the American Cinema at Diversionary Theatre (diversionary.org), March 18–26; and The XIXth at The Old Globe (theoldglobe.org), March 17–April 23.