Celebrating
‘City
of
Roses’
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
Volume XLVII • Number 9
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • February 28, 2018
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
in
And
This
Corner
Portland actor helms
role of boxing legend
photo by o wen C arey
Portland actor La’Tevin Alexander takes on the role of a lifetime, as a young Cassius Clay, the legendary boxer
who became Muhammad Ali, in “And In This Corner: Cassius Clay.” The Oregon Children’s Theater production
tackles issues of racial inequality and bullying during segregated Jim Crow-era Louisville, Ky. Opens Saturday
and runs through March 25.
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
Themes of racial injustice and childhood bullying come
to life in a new Oregon Children’s Theater play about a
young Cassius Clay set in segregated Louisville, Ky. before
he changed his name to Muhammad Ali and won a series of
heavyweight boxing championships.
“And in This Corner: Cassius Clay,” opening Saturday,
March 3 is written by award-winning playwright, rapper
and essayist Idris Goodwin and stars Portland actor La’Te-
vin Alexander.
Known for his bravado persona once he found his way
into the public spotlight, Ali often spoke in rhymes or witty
aphorisms, saying his style in the ring was to “float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee.”
In the play, audiences get treated to a glimpse of the
young fighter as an unknown up and comer.
“You get to see how all the fundamentals and all the forc-
es in his life are set in motion,” Alexander said. “He starts
to see the world as it was and how it is for a black man in
America. You get to see the caterpillar of the butterfly.”
Stan Foote, the Oregon Children’s Theater artistic direc-
tor who co-directs the play, compared the tale to the origins
of a super hero story, but in this case the beginnings of a
sports and civil rights hero.
The play incorporates historically accurate language of
1950s Kentucky with mediations on race relations and hu-
mor to bring “so many great points of intersection for adults
and kids,” Foote said.
Alexander, 26, will helm the role of the young Clay,
whose boxing origins began at age 12 when his bike got
stolen. Clay reported the theft to a police officer who then
offered to teach him how to box and defend himself.
The young Clay took a knack to the sport immediately.
C ontinueD on p age 7