Take two diametrically different coaches and stick them together running their sons' team, and you've got a recipe for bad baseball - and great comedy. "It's a modern day Odd Couple," says Tim Lile, director of the upcoming Human Race Theatre Company production of Richard Dresser's Rounding Third, "with varying views on parenting and about male relationships as they develop in the sporting world."
Or maybe how they unravel.
Macho baseball buff Don is the experienced coach of the Little League team of which his son is the star. He gets stuck with assistant coach Michael, who is, of all things, Canadian. Michael's son is, well, uh, a nice kid, the kind you hope never gets the ball hit to him, and Michael's own sports background is limited to, well, uh, curling.
Don is so win-at-all-costs he'd make Vince Lombardi wince. Michael just wants everybody to get a trophy.
Don is played by Human Race veteran
Jake Lockwood, perhaps best recognized for his work with Lile in A Tuna Christmas. Michael is Human Race Resident Artist
Brian McKnight, who last appeared in
The Loft in a very different baseball play, Take Me Out.
How the two go head to head, and how they change through the season, brings on an exploding scoreboard of laughs, whether from Don's desperate attempt to call back a runner headed for second, or Michael's equally desperate attempts to get all the equipment back into the bag.
Lile says just how the characters evolve and the laughs develop is part of the rehearsal process, " I'm an actor who directs, so I trust actors implicitly and allow their work to round out the shoe. We might end up bringing something into the play that hasn't been there before."
Rounding Third definitely has something the third-floor Loft stage hasn't seen before. Don's a plumber, and his full-size van gets involved in the show, a problem in elevator management for Technical Director Scott Kimmins. Others behind the stage include Scenic Director Tamara L. Honesty, Costume Designer Laine June Marr, Lighting Director John Rensel and Properties Manager
Heather Powell.
Tickets are available by visiting
www.humanracetheatre.org <http://www.humanracetheatre.org> , by calling Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or toll-free (888) 228-=3630, or at the Schuster Center box office.
Production sponsors of Rounding Third, the fifth presentation of The Human Race's 2009-2010 Eichelberger Loft Season are Auntie Anne's, Rand Oliver Allstate Insurance, Burhill Leasing Corporation, CompuNet Clinical Laboratories, One Call Now, Prestige Professional Plans and S.T.A.R.S. Youth Enrichment Program.
Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at the 219-seat Loft Theatre. In addition to the Eichelberger Loft Season, The Human Race produces for the Victoria Theatre's Broadway Series, the
Musical Theatre Workshop series, and special event programming. The Human Race, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director
Kevin Moore, also maintains education and outreach programs for children, teens and adults, as well as artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock, and The Human Race Conservatory. Human Race organizational support is provided by Culture Works, Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, Shubert Foundation the Miriam Rosenthal Foundation and the Ohio
Arts Council. The Ohio
Arts Council helped fund this organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
Photo of Jake Lockwood and Brian McKnight (photos by Scott J. Kimmins)
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