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12º Round: A História de Emile Griffith

Prize(s) Winners in Theater Performance Lighting

Lead Designers Ariel Rodrigues

Client Coletivo Nocaute

Photo Credits Eduardo Jorge

Completion Date July 2025

Project Location SESC Ipiranga, São Paulo, Brazil.

Project Link View

Entry Description

The play retraces the story of the first boxer to come out as bisexual in the history of the sport. Black and afro-caribbean, Emile Griffith was a five-time world champion in three different weight divisions. His life changed dramatically after the fight against Kid Paret, who was knocked out and died during a match broadcast live across the United States in 1962. “12th Round” tells the journey of one of the greatest boxers in history and revisits his fight both inside and outside the ring.

The dramaturgy is structured like a boxing match, in twelve rounds (scenes) of three minutes each, interspersed with one-minute intervals. The direction leads the performance as a stage cine-biography. The lighting was tasked with creating the visual narrative, defining distinct atmospheres and controlling space and time. The design moves between subtle and linear moments and others of great impact, always with delicacy and avoiding literalness through shadows and contrasts. Filters were chosen to enhance the skin tones and Blackness of the cast, in a palette of yellows, golds, chocolate, and purples, reinforcing the poetic density and dramatic expressiveness of the staging.