(CINCINNATI) – SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING, an exciting and inspirational new drama by playwrights Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan, heads to the mound to close the Playhouse’s 2015-16 Marx Theatre lineup April 23 through May 21 … just in time for baseball season in Cincinnati. Their collaboration about the Tuskegee Airmen, Fly, was a smash Playhouse hit in 2013.
SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING finds the pitcher at the crossroads of his already legendary career. It’s the fall of 1947, and Paige’s fame is being eclipsed by Jackie Robinson’s historic inaugural season. Robinson was the first African-American player in the modern era to break Major League Baseball’s color line. Paige’s team is in the midst of the unofficial end-of-season barnstorming circuit, in which all-star black and white teams could play against each other. Bob Feller is the white pitcher he’s set to face on a rainy night in Kansas City.
Thanks to the subsequent rainout, much of the action takes place off the field in Mrs. Hopkins’ elegant African-American boarding house, where the players congregate to wait for the mud-washed roads to become passable. Mrs. Hopkins represents Kansas City’s cultured, successful if separate black middle class, while her teenaged daughter Moira strains against the segregated status quo.
“The year 1947 is important because the doors were beginning to open in many ways,” says playwright Ricardo Khan, who is also directing the Playhouse production of SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING. “The play is generational; the older generation is looking back and is worried about how the world is going to change, while the young people are really excited and can’t wait. Black and white, they’re all right at the threshold of that change.
“I hope we not only come out of this knowing a little more about the history, but also with knowledge and a sense of pride, along with an appreciation that segregation does not exist like that anymore,” Khan adds. “If we got through all that, I believe that the forces that try to tear us apart today are things we can also handle.”
SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING is infused with music, embodied in the character of Jazzman, an “ageless teller of stories” who helps to set the mood and provides commentary while performing the distinctively Kansas City-style of jazz.
“Ultimately,” adds Khan, “SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING is a play about baseball, about jazz and about people, caught in a snapshot of a fascinating moment of change in America.”
The cast of SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING includes Tsilala Brock (Moira Hopkins), Michael Chenevert (Buck O’Neil), Vanessa A. Jones (Mrs. Hopkins), Kohler McKenzie (Bob Feller), Eric Person (Jazzman), Robert Karma Robinson (Satchel Paige), Peterson Townsend (Art Young) and Sam Wolf (Franky Palmieri).
In addition to Khan, the creative team features Bobby Watson (original music), John Ezell (set designer), Lauren T. Roark (costume designer), Victor En Yu Tan (lighting designer), Tom Mardikes (sound designer), Rocco DiSanti (projection designer) and Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet (fight directors/action movement coordinators). Jenifer Morrow is the production stage manager, and Brooke Redler and Andrea L. Shell are the second stage managers. SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING is sponsored by Ohio National Financial Services and Fifth Third Bank. TriVersity Construction is the design sponsor; Jack and Rosemarie Brown are the artist sponsors/Satchel Paige and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is the artist sponsor/director Ricardo Khan.
Tickets for SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING start at $35. Prices are subject to change, and patrons are encouraged to buy early for the best seats at the best prices. The show is appropriate for adult and older teenage audiences.
Continuing this season is the popular Sunday College Night, with tickets to all 7 p.m. Sunday performances priced at just $10 with a valid student ID. Student tickets are just $15 on the day of the show for all other performances. Discounted ticket prices for teens and students are available in advance for all performances for $30.
Previews for SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING are at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 23; 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27. The official opening night is Thursday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays.
Free Meet the Artists programs that allow audiences to interact with the cast and others associated with SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING will be held after the following performances: 2 p.m. Sunday, May 1; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4; 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19.
SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING will be audio described for those with visual impairments at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 14, and signed for persons with hearing impairments at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15. The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.
Tickets to SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING are on sale now. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com. Call 513-345-2248 for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf accessibility.
The 2015-16 Robert S. Marx Theatre season is presented by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation, and Macy’s is the Robert S. Marx Theatre season design sponsor. The season sponsor of new work is The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation.
The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of the community contributors to the ArtsWave campaign.
The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
The Playhouse also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation.
BAD DATES
SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING
(CINCINNATI) – Rudyard Kipling’s classic story about a mongoose, bird and muskrat who band together against a cobra to save their garden home brings the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s 2015-16 Off the Hill series for families to a close with performances from April 16 through May 22. Adapted by award-winning playwright Y York, THE GARDEN OF RIKKI TIKKI TAVI is a delightful comedy about sharing and cooperation recommended for audiences ages 5 and up.
