'BLADE' TAKES OFF THE GLOVES\A boxer's fight against homophobia, racism explodes on stage-turned-ring\as Oliver Mayer play arrives in L.A.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

In a downtown rehearsal hall-turned-gym, two muscular men in boxing gloves rhythmically spar to the beat of James Brown's "I Feel Good" under the watchful eye of their trainer.

On a platform nearby, another man jumps rope before a full-length mirror while a fourth pounds a speed bag. All are drenched in sweat from the grueling morning workout.

Playwright Oliver Mayer watches the noisy activity from a ringside folding chair and starts to laugh.

"I know it doesn't look like it," he says. "But there's a play here, too."

Indeed, rehearsals for the West Coast premiere of Mayer's "Blade to the Heat," currently in previews at the Mark Taper Forum, bear little resemblance to theater and look every inch a boxers' training camp, complete with an elevated ring, punching bags and blaring music.

Even the coach is the real deal. To choreograph the three fights that take place during the 90-minute drama, producers hired Michael Olajide Jr., a former professional pugilist who hung up the gloves when a torn retina threatened his eyesight.

The mix of sport and theater is deliberate, an attempt by Mayer to both enlighten theater fans to the drama of boxing and to lure sports buffs who wouldn't ordinarily spend the evening in a place without peanuts and beer.

"Blade to the Heat" also aims to expose homophobia and racism in the sports world. Set in 1959, it tells the story of Pedro Quinn, a talented contender who takes on Mantequilla Decima, his idol and the longtime champion.

Decima is rumored to be gay, and Quinn himself is wrestling with his sexual identity. The circumstances are based on a very real - if not infamous - bit of boxing history. In 1962, Benny (Kid) Paret taunted champion Emile Griffith with Spanish-language barbs about his homosexuality, which, up until then, was only a rumor. In the fight that followed, Griffith beat Paret so severely that he died several days later.

Mayer's juxtaposition of a brutal sport and a literary art form already has won him some major victories. Unlike other plays by new writers that open in Los Angeles and move on to New York, "Blade to the Heat" debuted at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, an institution known for launching such shows as "Hair" and "A Chorus Line."

Since then, the play has been optioned by pop diva Madonna, who intends to make a movie version - her directorial debut.

But it is this opening at the Taper that Mayer considers the play's real premiere, since it was written in Los Angeles, set in Los Angeles and penned by an Angeleno. Mayer, 30, was born in Hollywood and grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

"L.A.'s my Broadway," says Mayer. "This is my homecoming. I'm relieved my family and friends will get to see the play. Like it or not, this play is so much about me that I want these people to see it."

He also wants some reaction from Los Angeles' boxing community, and has invited former champions Carlos Palomino, Sugar Ray Leonard and Bobby Chacon to the premiere.

"We're trying an outreach," he says.

Like the play's protagonist, Mayer grew up in an ethnically mixed household (his mother is Mexican; his father Anglo) of boxing fans. The three things Mayer lists as his main fascinations in life - music, boxing and theater - are also the three main elements of the play.

Mayer and his character also share the experience of coming of age in a boxing ring, a sport Mayer briefly took up as a teen. Only in Mayer's play, which is set in 1959, the boxer's coming of age brings with it the realization he might be gay. And in the '50s boxing world, being gay meant ridicule, pain and ostracization.

Mayer, when writing his play, decided the Griffith incident was a perfect parable about racism and homophobia in the '90s.

"In this age of AIDS, there are still a lot of (homophobes) walking around, especially among Latin men," he says.

Setting the play in a boxing ring also always gives it sex appeal, Mayer contends.

"I like sports with a ball, but boxing is sexier, more basic," says Mayer. "It's just two guys. You don't even really need the ring."

Of course, boxing has long been fodder for drama, at least on the screen. Movies such as "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Somebody Up There Likes Me," "Raging Bull" and "Rocky" all plumbed the basic tragedy of the sport - that even winners come away with permanent scars.

"Both men die a little bit," says Mayer. "They give this supreme effort for our entertainment. Sometimes after I watch a match, I feel sick because of it. It's a guilty pleasure."

Mayer himself gave up boxing as a lad in favor of writing. A good student at North Hollywood High School, he went on to attend Cornell University in New York and, later, Columbia. "Blade to the Heat" is his third play.

For Olajide, 32, who boxed with the nickname "The Silk" until his retirement at age 27, the challenge of "Blade to the Heat" is in staging realistic fights while ensuring the performers' safety.

During his career, Olajide rose to be the No. 1 world middleweight contender. He hung up the gloves after a fight with Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns left his eye badly damaged.

"This certainly isn't going to be a dancer's rendition of boxing," he says.

He is so dedicated to realism that, during a discussion of the play's opening, Olajide called it "fight night."

"That's the attitude we have - that it's for real," he says. "Their conditioning is real," he adds, motioning to the actors. "Their punching is believable."

Actor Ray Oriel, who plays Quinn, actually boxed a bit as a boy growing up in the Pico Rivera district of Los Angeles. He keeps in shape between acting jobs with his daytime career as a longshoreman in San Pedro.

"This is a dream-come-true role for me," he says. "Being Latin, I play a lot of heavies. I'm not able to use my skills as an actor. This play is allowing me to do what I trained to do. I feel blessed and lucky."

THE FACTS

The show: "Blade to the Heat."

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: Previews continue through March 27. The plays opens March 28 and runs through May 5.

Tickets: Previews are $22; for the regular run, $28 to $35.50. Call Ticketmaster at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (1--Cover--Color) IN THIS CORNER... L.A. play takes a swing at homophobia and racism (2) In an out-of-the-ring scene, boxer Pedro Quinn (Oriel) is congratulated on winning a title fight by friend and blues singer Garnet (Hassan El-Amin). (3) The Mark Taper Forum stage has been turned into a boxing gym for "Blade to the Heat." Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News (4) Realistic, but safe, fight scenes are the object of "Blade to the Heat" stars Ray Oriel, left, and Dominic Hoffman in rehearsals for the play about boxing, homophobia and racism. Myung J. Chun/Daily News