Imagine Oscar and Felix from “The Odd Couple” coaching a Little League baseball team and you might get an idea of the banter in Mile Square Theatre’s (MST) new two-man play “Rounding Third.”
Written by well-known playwright and former Little League coach Richard Dresser, the play appeared in Chicago and off-Broadway before opening last weekend in MST’s theater space at Monroe Center for the Arts, 720 Monroe St. in Hoboken.
With quick-witted humor and back-and-forth comedic chatter, the play is well worth the $25 ($15 for students and seniors), and gives theater-goers an insider’s look into the world of Little League baseball.
“You’ll leave the theater smiling.” – Marc Weitz
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The play features two actors from Hudson County: Red Sox fan Matthew Lawler, originally from Boston and now living in Hoboken, and Yankee fan Liam Joynt of Jersey City. The pair had only three weeks to put the play together, although one scene was performed at MST’s annual benefit “Seventh Inning Stretch.”
“Time is always an enemy of theater,” Weitz said. “But this was an unusual process because we did one scene for the fundraiser. Either way, with three weeks, there are a lot of lines to learn.”
Two previews, which the theater held before the play opened, were a huge help, the actors said. “The previews helped us find that energy on stage and get our rhythms together,” Joynt said.
Lawler said that the play is an accurate depiction of a sports experience. “I’m a huge sports fan,” Lawler said. “The play captures the intensity of people who follow the game of baseball. Both characters have the kid’s interest in mind. It’s just two different ways of giving the kids a fulfilling experience and what that exactly means.”
Although the actors said learning the lines was the hardest part of being in the play, Joynt had another answer. “Working with a Red Sox fan,” he said.
When and where
“Rounding Third” opened last weekend and runs through April 25 at MST theater space on the second floor of the Monroe Center for the Arts, 720 Monroe St. in Hoboken. Running Thursday through Sunday, the play starts at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $25, $15 for students and seniors. Free parking is available.
Sean Allocca can be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com