‘The Royale’ at Writers Theatre delivers a knockout punch

La’Tevin Alexander stars in The Royale at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. The play is based on the true story of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion of the world. Credit: Hugo Hentoff What motivates a fighter to achieve greatness? What motivates a Black fighter to challenge the reigning world boxing champion who happens to be white in the Jim Crow era of the 1900s? These questions provide the underpinning to The Royale, now playing at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, based on the true story of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion of the world. Johnson broke more barriers than just fighting white fighters. He operated an upscale restaurant in Bronzeville and was targeted for transporting women across state lines for “immoral purposes” because he openly dated and married white women. Jay Jackson (La’Tevin Alexander) is similar to Johnson, dressing in a dapper manner, sleeping in “whites only” hotels and seeing himself as an equal to any man on the street. I