Philly’s boxing underdog arrives at the Walnut Street Theatre in ‘Rocky, the Musical’

When South Philly boxer Maleek Jackson trained Matthew Amira, the actor who plays Rocky in the Walnut Street Theatre’s upcoming production of Rocky, the Musical, he didn’t start by teaching him how to throw a punch.

“First I teach a mind-set,” Jackson said. This includes awareness of the present and an understanding of what Jackson describes as “the gift of boxing,” a form of both defense and celebration. Then there’s stance and balance, plus fundamentals of footwork — all before gloves connect.

“We’re not fighting to become world champions,” said Jackson, who owns the Maleek Jackson Fitness Boxing Gym in Northern Liberties, and counts world champion boxer Bernard Hopkins as a mentor. “They don’t use my services to come home with a black eye. Nobody gets hurt.”

The goal, he said, is to teach actors “how to move in a way that’s authentic and natural and believable.”

Jackson feels passionately about boxing and about Rocky. For him, boxing became a way to tone his body and mind while spending 10 years in prison from ages 16 to 26. Jackson practiced throwing punches on his prison-issued mattress, which he tied up with shoelaces and stood on its end to serve as a punching bag.

Now, 12 years later, Jackson has reached back to the community, offering boxing lessons to young people through The Azzim Dukes Initiative, a nonprofit he founded and named after his brother, a victim of gun violence who died in South Philadelphia in 2010 at the age of 17.

“I started the foundation as an opportunity for kids to use boxing to better understand their troubles, understand their emotional intelligence, understand how to think, and to see what they can become amidst [challenging] circumstances,” Jackson said.

“That’s why Rocky’s story is so impactful around the world,” he said.

“The spirit of Rocky,” he said, “embodies the spirit of Philadelphia because Philly is a fighting city. They love the story of overcoming — how you have to get up when you get knocked down.”

(Oct. 4-30, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila., 215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org)

When the pandemic began, actor Joshua William Gelb felt closeted in. That’s when he began live-streaming digital productions using an actual closet in his New York home — not the big walk-in garage-sized ones, but the standard 4-foot-by-4-foot version.

Those productions formed the basis of Theater in Quarantine, which is presenting Topside, written by Scott R. Sheppard of Philadelphia, and starring Gelb at the Cannonball Festival, which is part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Topside is set within the confines of a closet (although tipped on its side.)

Gelb plays two roles — a man with a gas mask and a man without one — shifting between the two and never speaking a word. The only spoken words come through speakers — and they aren’t the characters addressing each other. We only hear their thoughts.

As the audience watches Gelb perform in the closet, they see digital images of him playing both characters projected on the closet walls. The two characters, who appear to be soldiers, find themselves stuck in a bunker. They don’t know why. They also don’t know why one has a mask and the other does not. They don’t know what threats face them if they would try to leave the bunker.

Topside replays in a continuous loop, over the course of the evening. As the audience is ushered in and out, the action continues and repeats.

“There is a sense that he is trapped in his own loop,” said Sheppard. “The paranoia creeps in.”

(Through Sept. 30, ‘Topside,’ Maas Building Cottage, 1320 N. 5th St., Phila. 215-413-1318 or fringearts.com or cannonballfestival.org)

Playwright Alice Childress focuses on racial and social issues in her work. In Wine in the Wilderness, written five years after the 1964 Harlem race riots, Childress looks at race, activism, and the role of Black women against the backdrop of the riots. AZ Espinoza directs the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (PAC) production of Wine in the Wilderness as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The play is presented in conjunction with TheBlackBestFriend, an organization which describes itself as a creative hub for Black joy, resilience, and community.

“Wine in the Wilderness was the first ‘classic’ play I read that spoke directly to the Black community with no translations, code switches, or cultural exposition for a non-Black audience,” Espinoza said in a statement. “The story felt refreshing, liberating, and exciting.”

Even as the action on the street unfolds, a Black artist in his Harlem apartment is introduced to a potential model to illustrate the power of Black womanhood in the final panel of his triptych. Childress’ play questions class and gender assumptions.

(Through Oct. 9, Philadelphia Artists Collective and TheBlackBestFriend at Poth Brewery, 3145 Jefferson St., Phila., philartistscollective.org or fringearts.com or 215-413-1318)

Big news! The meaning of life has been found on a remote island where an elderly couple will officiate over an evening of tears, laughter, and philosophy. Give the credit to Eugene Ionesco, the absurdist playwright who penned The Chairs in 1954 for an invisible cast of thousands. In The Chairs, Quintessence Theatre Group promises a timeless tragic farce. Philly favorites Frank X., E. Ashley Izard, and Alex Olson make up the cast directed by Alexander Burns, Quintessence’s artistic director.

(Sept. 28-Oct. 23, Quintessence Theatre Group at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave., Phila. 215-987-4450 or quintessencetheatre.org)

A pair of time travelers cavort through history encountering cultural giants such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Sylvia Plath, Marguerite Newburgh, and Alice Parker in Jessica Noel’s Scarlet Letter, staged for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Humble Materials, a theater collective cofounded by Noel, is presenting the play. The company is in residence at the Philly PACK garage theater in South Philadelphia.

(Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Philly PACK, 233 Federal St., Phila. 215-703-8617 or 215-413-1318 or fringearts.com)

Tiny Dynamite is back with a Halloween-themed Oktoberfest at the Physick House Garden. Expect spooky short stories, mysterious encounters, and of course, beer, wine, or a soda, along with a snack.

(Sept. 30-Oct. 2, Tiny Dynamite at the Physick House Garden, 321 S. 4th St., Phila. 215-399-0088, or tinydynamite.org)

There’s still time to catch two plays in Northwest Philadelphia: Proof, David Auburn’s examination of genius and mental illness at The Stagecrafters Theater in Chestnut Hill, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, about the interplay of caregiving, mental illness, and dashed hopes, at Allens Lane Art Center in Mount Airy.

(Through Oct. 1, ‘Proof,’ The Stagecrafters Theater, 8130 Germantown Ave., Phila. 215-247-9913 or thestagecrafters.org; and through Oct. 2, ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane,’ Allens Lane Art Center, 601 W. Allens Lane, Phila. 215-248-0546 or allenslane.org)

Check with individual venues for COVID-19 protocols.