In honor of Hoboken and America’s favorite pastime, Mile Square Theatre (MST) presents the seventh annual “Seventh Inning Stretch,” a series of seven 10-minute plays about baseball. Held in the DeBaun auditorium on March 14 at 8 p.m., the one-night-only event celebrates live theater in the Mile Square City and helps raise money for MST.
With a silent auction of an original piece of baseball artwork by painter Mikel Frank, a 50/50 raffle, and a light fare and wine reception, the event has become one of Hoboken’s most memorable affairs.
“The fundraiser has really become a showcase for us,” said founder of MST Chris O’Connor.
“There’s a lot of humor in the event, and I’m always amazed at how the playwrights can deal with so many different subjects using the same baseball theme.”
After a national playwright competition, the theater company chose four plays written by playwrights from around the country, in addition to three plays that were written by selected writers.
“We used to target playwrights that we admired,” O’Connor said, “to write for the festival. Most were eager to devote their energy to a small project without having to write pages and pages of scripts. But this year, we held a national open-call.”
The theatre company announced the competition on various blogs and forums on the internet.
“Word spread pretty quickly,” O’Connor said. “We were really surprised. We received 75 plays from all around the county and four of them were finally chosen.”
O’Connor himself will appear in the play Opening Day by William Burton Henline.
Local actress
Hoboken resident and actress Deborah Stein has lived in town for 12 years and has appeared in the national tour of Camelot starring Robert Goulet. This year marks her first appearance in “Seventh Inning Stretch.”
“It’s unlike most shows,” Stein said, “being that it’s one night only. That makes it much more exciting to be a part of and being able to work with other great actors in support of professional theater in Hoboken is an honor.”
Stein appears in Donna Spector’s play called English Majors that depicts two recent graduates having fun getting to know each other, before landing on the subject of baseball.
“It’s a very sweet, little piece,” Stein said. “Hopefully, it’ll be really funny.”
Although this is Stein’s first appearance, she has attended the event for the last five years.
“It’s really important to have professional theater in Hoboken,” Stein said, “and it’s a really fun evening. Each play goes by really quickly, and they’re all really concise. It’s wonderful to have live theater in Hoboken.”
The birthplace of baseball
The show was first produced back in 2003, which was the first show the theater organized in Hoboken.
“Hoboken is the birthplace of baseball.” – Chris O’Connor
________
After some deliberation, the company decided on the theme of baseball.
“First, we thought about doing a festival on Sinatra,” O’Connor said, “but we figured that wouldn’t be very sustainable. Hoboken is the birthplace of baseball, so we decided baseball would be perfect especially because of its universality.”
According to O’Connor, each play is specifically written for the festival by local and more well-known playwrights. After seven years in production, a total of 41 plays have been written for the festival.
In addition to the plays, “Seventh Inning Stretch” will also hold a silent auction bidding on an original piece of artwork.
“It’s a really beautiful piece of work,” O’Connor said.
“Seventh Inning Stretch” will be held in the DeBaun auditorium on March 14 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25, $20 for students and seniors. For more information on the event, please visit www.milesquaretheatre.org.
William Burton Henline hails from outside of Washington, DC and is currently a candidate for a master’s of fine arts in playwriting at Rutgers University.
Rand Higbee grew up in Spearfish, S.D. and obtained a theatre degree from South Dakota State University and an MFA from the University of Nevada. His play “Sir Issac’s Duel” was names as an alternate in the National Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center.
Robin Rice Lichtig is an author of over 40 plays. Her play “Suki Livingston Opens Like a Parachute” is currently in development.
Jay Rehak is a playwright and non-fiction essayist. His latest short work “Dr. J’s Magic Spray,” was voted audience favorite at the Inspirato Festival in Toronto.
Donna Spector is a playwright who has been featured off Broadway, in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and Greece. Her play the “Golden Ladder,” was included in Women Playwrights: Best Plays of 2002. She has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize.
Heather Woodbury is an award-winning performer and writer. Her 10-hour, 100-character solo play, “Whatever: An American Odyssey in Eight Acts” was hailed as a “masterwork of the solo form,” by the New York Times.
Anna Ziegler is a Yale graduate and recipient of an MFA from Tisch, NYU. Her works have been developed by the Manhattan Theatre Club, The Sundance Theatre Club, and a variety of others.