On the day after the Minnesota Twins' All-Star center fielder Byron Buxton made history by becoming the first player to hit for the cycle* at Target Field, capping off the nominal first half of the best year of his career, I saw a play called
Love and Baseball in Artistry's Black Box theater. I love baseball, and I love theater, so when the two combine it's pretty much my favorite thing. But don't worry, you don't have to love baseball to love
Love and Baseball, in the same way that I love the play
Colossal and the TV series
Friday Night Lights despite the fact that I don't like football, and I love the play
The Wolves and the TV series
Ted Lasso despite knowing nothing about soccer. As all of the above exhibits, sports are a great metaphor for life, and a great framework for telling a story. In this case, the story is a love story between two people, one a baseball fan, one not so much, who have a chance encounter that changes both of their lives. It's a sweet and funny rom com that's well cast, directed, and designed, in Artistry's intimate black box space, a great two-hander that's a joy to watch even if you're one of those people who inexplicably does not appreciate the beauty of the game. As director Eric Morris writes in a note in the program, "How can you not be romantic about baseball?!"
Go watch this and then tell me baseball isn't dramatic, theatrical, emotional, and wonderful.
And then get your tickets to see Love and Baseball.
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Will (Dustin Bronson) reenacts Kyle Gibson's famous
home run in the 1988 World Series
(with Kendra Mueller as Michelle, photo by Alyssa Kristine) |
Playwright Jerry Montoya cleverly structured this one-act play in three scenes, appropriate for a game built on 3s – 3 strikes, 3 outs, 3x3 innings. In the first scene, Will meets Michelle when he rushes home to work to turn on the Dodgers game (it's Game 5 of the NLCS) to find Michelle waiting there for his roommate Michael. Turns out Michelle was Michael’s previous roommate, before she moved out and moved in with her boyfriend. Will has to choose between watching the game and entertaining his guest, and that choice, as well as several other choices that they both make, changes the course of both of their lives. Scenes two and three jump forward in time to other significant moments in their relationship, which I won't say too much about because watching it unfold, and guessing what has happened and will happen, is part of the fun. Suffice it to say it's a well-told story of a relationship that we get a pretty good picture of through three snapshots in time.
Eric Morris directs the play, and I know for a fact that he is a big baseball fan (you would too if you've been to The Hive Collaborative, which he co-owns and operates with his wife Laura, and seen the baseball memorabilia). I'm sure this appreciation for the game helps with the baseball stories that Will tells Michelle (one in each scene), that are done in a way that baseball fans (like Will) and non-baseball fans (like Michelle) can enjoy. I love the way each scene starts with an announcement of "play ball," each actor waiting in an on-deck circle on either side of the stage, until the crack of the bat announces the start of the scene. Between scenes, well-chosen songs play while the two actors meaningfully move set pieces around and change clothes on either side of the stage. What could be a long and boring scene transition is instead character building and interesting to watch.
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Will (Dustin Bronson) and Michelle (Kendra Mueller)
(photo by Alyssa Kristine) |
Both actors are making their Artistry debuts, and both are great in their roles. Dustin Bronson (frequent performer at the Guthrie Theater) is very convincing in Will's love of baseball, despite admitting that he's "not a big fan of baseball." His Will is charming and funny and awkward, and sincere when he needs to be. This is just my second time seeing Kendra Mueller on stage, and she's great. Michelle is the one we kind of side with for various reasons, and Kendra is very likable and real and relatable. The play hinges on the instant chemistry between the two characters, and they've got it. I appreciate the pauses and moments of silence that add authenticity to the encounters.
This show marks Artistry's return to their Black Box space; the last play they produced there was coincidentally also baseball related - 2019's Tinkers to Evers to Chance (the title of which refers to the Cub's legendary double play team, which also factors into one of the baseball stories in this play, known as "Merkle's Boner"). It's a great choice for this intimate story, which would get lost in the larger theater used for musicals. Artistry just announced their 2026 season, which includes three plays in this space, so get ready for some more intimate stories to be told here. For this show, home plate and base lines are painted on the floor, framing a lived-in living room with worn furniture, a TV and speakers, and Dodgers gear strewn about the room. A chain link fence delineates the space, as if we're on some hometown baseball field. Characters are dressed in appropriate baseball-themed (or not) casual modern attire, with simple onstage changes (scenic and props design by Katie Phillips, costume design by Samantha Fromm Haddow).
There's a lot to love in this play, and not just the baseball for baseball fans. Because just like in baseball, life and love can surprise you, just when you think you have it figured out. Someone throws a curve ball, or some obscure rule you forgot about comes back to bite you, and suddenly the outcome is completely different than you expected. That's the joy (and often the pain) of baseball, love, and life.
*For you non-baseball fans, "hitting for the cycle" means a player hits a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game, a very rare feat because it requires both speed and power, which don't often go together in one human. Unless that human is someone as special as Byron Buxton.
