Actor and playwright Mike Wiley has dedicated his life to preserving the legacies of African-American legends such as Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball; Emmett Till, who’s lynching played an important role in the Civil Rights movement; and Henry “Box” Brown, who escaped slavery by mailing himself to abolitionists.

Wiley, a veteran of the theater, will give Gainesville audiences an up close and personal glimpse of Robinson with his production of “A Game Apart” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, in Pearce Auditorium at Brenau University in Gainesville.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students. They can be purchased through The Arts Council’s website www.theartscouncil.net.

In his production, Wiley attempts to capture and show the divided world faced by  Robinson, who was praised of the field and spit on in the streets.

“This isn’t just African-American history, this is American history,” Wiley has said on his website. “You can’t unhinge one from the other.”

During the past few years, Wiley’s film and theatrical works have received an almost unanimous praise. His short film “DAR HE,” a one man re-enactment of the event surrounding death of Till, won best feature film at the Hollywood Black Film Festival and best film/video documentary production at the Berlin Black International Cinema Festival in 2012.

Wiley said the histories he tells are in peril of being forgotten as time moves on, and it is up to people like him to educate young people of their history.

“These are stories, these are oral histories, events that are being forgotten, because grandparents are so elderly or are passing away,” Wiley said in his video mission statement. “So I have to find a way to go to them.”