[NEohioPAL]Berko review: ROUNDING THIRD (Actors' Summit)

[Roy Berko]

Actors’ Summit hits homer with ‘ROUNDING THIRD’

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

When our son was six he participated for the first
time in Little League baseball.  During his initial
game a player on the other team dropped a fly ball. 
When the kid came off the field his father charged
over to him, yelled, “What in the *#&% did you do out
there?,” and smacked the kid.  Our son, his eyes wide
with wonder said, “Do I have to play Little League?”

With kids no longer having the freedom to play pick-up
games, but participate in organized sports organized
by adults, questions are often raised. “Is the game
for parents or the kids?”  “Are parents living out
their dreams through their son or daughter?” “Is this
supposed to be fun or is it competition for winning
which teaches that “life is not fair and you’d better
learn that right now!”?

Richard Dresser’s comedy is a journey of two Little
League coaches from their first meeting to the
climactic championship game. The audience is the
stand-in for the team, so the coaches speak directly
to the viewers about competition, character,
punctuality, and the importance of wearing the right
equipment.

Don is a blue-collar, macho, win-at-all-costs veteran
coach whose son is the star pitcher.  Michael, a
corporate executive, has always been the odd-man out,
the last picked for any team.  He believes that the
job of a coach is to shield the kids from the intense
pressure of competition and make sure they have a good
time.  Obviously, they are going to conflict.  The
results are hilarious, touching and thought provoking.

By the end of the play, both of the coaches’ lives and
attitudes have changed and the audience leaves 
asking, “Whose philosophy is right?”  And,
incidentally, “What is my philosophy concerning
winning, losing and life in general?”

Dresser is a good writer.  His lines are real people
speaking.  Male viewers will easily see their
neighbors, relatives and maybe even themselves in the
well etched characters.  Women might see the men in
their lives.

Actor’s Summit’s production, under the adept direction
of Constance Thackaberry, is on target.   She has a
good grasp of Dresser’s concept and has a keen
understanding of the workings of the male mind.  Maybe
directing her husband (Keith Stevens) has something to
do with that.

Stevens (Don) fully develops the win-obsessed baseball
coach.  He is consistent in his guy talk,
interpretation of male friendship and womanizing.  He
reflects the highs and lows of his life with clarity. 


Daniel Taylor (Michael) is not quite as consistent as
Stevens , but does a good job of making Michael real. 
The character’s motivations seem clear, but Taylor
sometimes loses the flow of conversation and some of
his actions seem forced. 

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   ‘ROUNDING THIRD’ is both a
delightful and thought provoking script.  It gets a
very good production at Actors’ Summit.  This is
definitely a “Yes, go see!”

‘ROUNDING THIRD’ runs though September 30 at Actors’
Summit, 86 Owen Brown Street, Hudson.  Call for
tickets now at 330-342-0800


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


       
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