Review: UNDER A BASEBALL SKY at Beck Center For The Arts
Melodramatic Mexican-American tale makes for a worthy trip to Beck Center
Hispanic theatre is noted for its fictional-based literature that normally has six elements: character, plot, point of view, setting, style and theme. These are often encased in a melodramatic storyline with major family dysfunction.
José Cruz González’s UNDER A BASEBALL SKY, now in production at Beck Center for the Arts, well fits into that format.
What happens when a somewhat troubled young Mexican gets into trouble and is assigned to community service centering on cleaning up a field in what was once a thriving Latinx community, now going through gentrification?
What ensues when that young man is confronted by an elderly lady who was once a community leader, but is now living with the bitterness of losing her son and whose daughter, an emerging young activist disappears after going to an opposition rally and is later found dead?
What if that same women was somewhat responsible for the death of her daughter because a gun, given to the girl by her brother as protection, had its bullets removed by the old women in her misguided attempt to “protect” the girl?
What happens when the women finds-out that the delinquent young man has an unusual baseball pitching talent?
As the publicity for the play reveals, “The story centers about baseball’s deep roots in the Mexican American community. When troublemaker Teo is put to work cleaning up a vacant lot belonging to his elderly neighbor, this unlikely pair forms a bond forged in history and America’s pastime. Inspired by San Diego’s Logan Heights, the play neighborhood celebrates communities and individuals coming together to find hope, healing, love.”
Or, as Jonathan Rodriguez, the play’s Puerto Rican/Dominican Assistant Director states in his program notes: “González has crafted a timeless story that speaks to some of today’s most pressing issues.” It also speaks to him as, “baseball was one of the few places where I saw my people and our culture thriving.”
Mónica Torres is wonderful as Eli Maria O’Reilly, the aged community activist who saved and continues to strive to save her neighborhood and its inhabitants. She is Eli!
The rest of the cast (Rick Ortega, Tania Benites, Lionel Morales, Jr., and Kenny Santiago Marrero), though not reaching Torres’s level of performance, are each believable in their portrayals.
The performance is well-conceived by director Eric Schmiedl. The projections by Brittany Powell Blaschke, the sound effects by Angie Hayes lighting design by Maureen Paterson, and set by Mark Devol, all enhance the show.
The small studio theater adds an intimacy that enhances the message.
CAPSULE JUDGMENT: The excellent English/Spanish language production of José Cruz Gonzalez’s UNDER A BASEBALL SKY, adds an intercultural presence to the area’s theatre scene that is a welcome addition both for actors and audience! ¡muy bien!
UNDER A BASEBALL SKY runs through May 4, 2025 in the Studio Theatre of the Beck Center for the Arts. Do tickets call 216-521-2540 or go on-line to: beckcenter.org
Next up at Beck Center: THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, a bluegrass musical based on Eudora Welty’s tale of corruption novella.
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