The world premiere of Under a Baseball Sky hits it out of the ballpark with its elements of magical realism while celebrating perseverance, community, responsibility, and the human spirit.
The latest baseball-themed play at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park, Under the Base Ball Sky, shows how an unlikely friendship was formed through the generation's presence of baseball in their Mexican American community.
From José Cruz González, author of American Mariachi comes a 90-minute Globe-commissioned story about baseball’s deep roots in the Mexican American community that is inspired by San Diego’s Logan Height community. Under a Baseball Sun, directed by Globe Resident Artist James Vásquez, is a story about a changing community, the struggles to maintain a sense of community, the struggle of two families dealing with very personal issues, and rediscovery.
As the play opens we first meet Elí, played by Laura Crotte, a pillar of the community, who is returning home with court-ordered supervisor, Chava, played by Joseph Morales. Elí had just received long-awaited, but dreaded news of authorities identifying a set of remains belonging to her missing daughter Paloma, played by Ana Nicolle Chavez, who was a local labor activist and was once a star softball player.
Elí’s children, Paloma and Santiago, played by Ceasar J. Rosado, loved baseball as much as she loved the sport. They also inherited her stubborn and fiery traits which lead them to their unfortunate deaths that Elí mourns.
Chava, who offers consistently hopeful energy, encourages Elí to live her life again after experiencing major losses in her family. He also informs her of a young man named Teo, played by Diego Josef, who will clean the lot beside her house for community service hours.
Much like Elí, Teo has a lot on his shoulders after an unfriendly verbal exchange with a schoolmate got him expelled and in legal trouble. Adding to his devastation; Teo’s widowed mother is detained for a broken tail light he was supposed to repair, and without her wallet in the vehicle, she is brought into custody by immigration despite her naturalized status.
Chava is as much a part of the community as Eli herself; he is determined to connect and serve, and is utterly likable throughout the production, even as he helps the characters navigate their challenges. Chava and Elí help Teo find out what kind of person he will become when life throws him curveballs.
Set designer Anna Loiuizos created a cluttered and abandoned vacant lot enclosed within a chain link fence with a screen door and porch steps at one corner and a shed door at the opposite end. The lot carried a dream-like and timeless element of their community that birthed a slurry of memories for the characters. The lot itself not only symbolizes the timeless love for the sport of baseball but also symbolizes the relationship the characters have with one another.
The audio elements designed by Leon Rothenberg add to the dream-like effect of the set and adds to the wholesome, humorous, and bone-rattling performance of each actor. The timing is seemingly perfect from the crack of a bat to a ball, a ball swooshing through the air and into a mit, to the sound of sirens, gunshots, and gusts of wind.
The sound, in correlation to the physicality of the actors, is perfect. Similarly, the costume design by Danielle Nieves helps deliver a sense of place and time that is necessary when telling a story of hope in the face of tragedy, adversity, and healing from scars of the past.
Under a Baseball Sky is shown in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way from Feb.11 through March 12. The performance schedule is Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are available online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23- GLOBE (234-5623), or in person at The Old Globe’s Box Office in Balboa Park. Regular ticket prices start at $29.
For additional information about Under a Baseball Sky, visit www.TheOldGlobe.org.
