A portrayal of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali will be presented on campus Wednesday.

Geoffrey Ewing will pay tribute to Ali at 8 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Steve Bevill, a graduate assistant in the Student Life office, said Ewing will present a one-man “speaking and acting” lecture that will cover Ali’s defining years. Ewing began acting in 1976 and has appeared on the daytime soap operas “Loving” and “Guiding Light.”

Ewing will act out excerpts from the play he co-wrote about Ali’s life and comment on them during the lecture, Bevill said. Ewing’s Ali play received the OBIE award, the highest achievement that can be given to off-Broadway plays.

After the recent release of the movie, “Ali,” starring Will Smith, Bevill commented that the University Board, who is sponsoring the event, thought Ewing’s presentation would be a good way to end Eastern’s African American History Month festivities.

Ewing said the reason he performs the lecture and initally wrote the play is because he has the utmost respect for Ali.

“I don’t feel that he was appreciated or understood like I thought he should be,” Ewing said. “I’ve always respected him for his spiritual and humane choices he made throughout his life.”

Ewing also mentioned that the movie portraying Ali didn’t do him justice.

“The movie was not deep enough,” he said. “The script did not deal with what I see as the most important aspects of Ali’s life, his life beyond fighting.”

Ewing commented that he wants the audience to gain a spark to make a difference in the world and a basic understanding about Ali after his lecture.

“I want the audience to take a look at their own lives and how to change them for the better, much like Ali did,” he said. “Ali established himself early in his life so that when he shows up to events now, he doesn’t have to say a word and is still held in high regard.”

Admission to the Ali presentation is free to Eastern students with a Panther Card and $3 for the general public.