Especially in spring, baseball is as full of promise as America’s lost wilderness must have been. Maybe the Cubs will win this year. Maybe the Yankees will tank. Baseball represents hope.
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Being gay doesn’t really matter to Darren, partly because for him it’s just about sex. He doesn’t love men or a particular man–he loves baseball. As he tells his best friend, the earnest team intellectual Kippy (Kyle Hall in a beautifully modulated performance), “If I’m gonna have sex–and I am, because I’m young and rich and famous and talented and handsome, so it’s a law–I’d rather do it with a guy, but when all is said and done, Kippy? I’d just rather play ball.”
Greenberg’s play is less about the tragic consequences of coming out, however, than it is about finding one’s individual path while working successfully with others–a refined form of the American dream. Characters speak often about being permitted to express what they believe, but that isn’t an uncomplicated process, as another character reveals. When Shane Mungitt (Kyle Hatley), a John Rocker-esque bigot, decides to share his racism and homophobia with the press, his teammates turn on him and he’s suspended.
When: Through 5/1: Wed-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM. No show Sat 4/9.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Michael Brosilow.
