Rome Neal had just won an Audelco award - the most prestigious prize in black theater - for his tour-de-force performance off Broadway in "Monk." His portrayal of jazz giant Thelonious Monk had brought him many accolades, but something told him he was not finished working on the role.

The award reception took place at the Lenox Lounge, the legendary Harlem jazz club. "So, I'm at the bar, people are talking, and something said to me, Go in that back room and check out the jazz," says Neal. "For me the something was always the voice of Thelonious. I believe the spirit of Monk came along and said, ‘Look at this guy; he looks like me. He's an OK actor - let him tell my story.'"

Neal cannot be blamed for believing that portraying Monk was his destiny. He had met playwright Laurence Holder in the late 1990's, shortly after Holder had written another play, "Monk and Bud." Because Neal was a respected actor, and he bore an uncanny resemblance to Monk, he had been called for a reading. "I was just an actor pursuing my career, but there was something unique about this reading. I didn't know this character, but I felt good about it."

�Neal did not get the part. Nor did he get the part in a second play when he once again auditioned for the role of Monk. But, when he ran into Holder at a North Carolina theater festival, Neal told him he was getting frustrated with the complexity of theatrical productions. He asked Holder to write a vehicle for him, a one-man show about Monk.

Holder was enthusiastic, completing the first draft in a week. They workshopped it in front of audiences, eventually developing it into a full play. The result is an intense exploration of the turbulent life of an African-American genius in mid-20th Century America. Monk was not only a brilliant pianist, he was arguably the greatest composer in the history of jazz. But he was also known for his eccentric behavior; he is widely believed to have suffered from bipolar disorder.

Before watching a DVD of "Monk," I watched an excellent new documentary, "Thelonious Monk, American Composer" from the Masters of American Music Series. It was full of footage of Monk's performances, including his quirky mannerisms and his propensity to dance during others' solos. Neal has captured these eccentricities perfectly. But the documentary had very little footage of Monk speaking. As Barry Harris, another great pianist, and a former roommate of Monk, told Neal after an early reading, "I like it, but Monk didn't talk that much."

Still, Harris was so impressed with the dramatization of his friend's life, he invested in the show, which played off Broadway for two months in 2005. Performing seven shows a week, alone on the stage, was not easy. "That's a workout, man," says Neal. "It's bit weird. You start talking and you're always looking for someone to give you feedback, and there's no one there. So you realize, uh-oh, I'm on my own. It gets to be a conversation between myself, as Monk, and the audience."

During the off-Broadway run, luminaries who knew Monk came to see the play. Among them was the drummer Max Roach. "It was scary," says Neal. "I talk about him in the play. One time I had to mention him and I'm looking right at him and I couldn't remember his name. He came up to me after afterwards and said, ‘Man, you were Monk up there. I know Monk, I played with him. You were Monk.'"

There is one aspect of the play that jazz fans might find odd. The music is by bassist Bill Lee (Spike Lee's father). Neal explains that there was an attempt to obtain the rights to use Monk's music, but it was turned down. Instead, Lee wrote an excellent Monk-like score tailored to the play.

Neal, who is artistic director of the theater program at the Nuyorican Poets Caf� in Manhattan, has done some film work, playing small roles in Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam" and "Malcolm X." He was also in the 2000 film of "Hamlet" with Ethan Hawke. Since its New York run, Neal has performed "Monk" in Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, and other cities. After inhabiting the character of Monk on and off for a decade, what does Neal want audiences to come away with?

"I want them to realize that we had a genius of modern American music in this world, and his music is still alive. You saw ‘Monk' on stage for 90 minutes and you came into his world. If you haven't been turned on to jazz, I want to incite you to reach out for jazz and more Monk music in your life," he says. "As time goes by we have hip-hop and all this other music around us. People tend to forget about greats like Thelonious. We need to keep that in people's minds, that someone of this magnitude lived on this planet and shared his energy with us."

Neal could be talking about his former self. Before playing the role he was oblivious to Monk's music. "I was into soul and r&b; Monk changed my life," he says. And that night in 2005, after winning the award, Monk continued to change his life.

"Something said, Leave these people at the bar and go in that back room because you thanked everybody for that award, but you didn't thank Thelonious Monk. So I went back there and talked to the musicians. They played five Monk tunes. I was in awe. Something came to me and said, You got good reviews, you won the award, but you didn't get one thing: the jam session. Jazz musicians might play in the best places all over the world, but they always go back to some dive to play in a jam session."

Since then Neal has gone to jam session after jam session. And he's moved beyond acting. "I became a jazz vocalist because of Monk," he says.

"Monk"

Friday-Saturday, January 29-30

Radisson Hotel Riverside, 120 E Main St.

8 p.m. | $10-$25 | 733-7685, exodustojazz.com