‘UNDER A BASEBALL SKY’ SCORES WITH HUMOR, SWEETNESS
What's a baseball sky? In José Cruz González's new play at the Old Globe in Balboa Park, it's the kind of promising weather when “extraordinary things can happen.” The Globe commissioned González to write the upbeat 90-minute, baseball-themed play, which opened Thursday in the Globe's in-the-round Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre.
González also wrote “American Mariachi,” which premiered at the Globe in 2018. Both plays are entertaining, lightly scripted and roughly 90-minute stories about Mexican American families. Both plays were also directed by James Vásquez, who brings humor and sweetness to the story and characters.
But unlike the musicfilled “American Mariachi,” “Under a Baseball Sky” is a mystery story with elements of magical realism.
González was inspired to write the play by the littleknown history of how American baseball was embraced by Mexican immigrants as they arrived in the U.S. from the 1920s and beyond. San Diego had its own Mexican American male, and even female, ball teams and some of these players even played in the Negro League.
In the play — which has no specific time or geographic setting — Elí is an elderly woman of indeterminate age who has long been the pillar of her Mexican American community. But she's embittered by the long-ago loss of her two children — Paloma, a baseball fan and labor union organizer who disappeared without a trace 40 years ago, and Santiago, a U.S. Army
corporal, who was hit by a car.
Her solitary life is disrupted when Teo, a troubled teen, is assigned to clean up the junk-strewn baseball lot near her home by the boy's community counselor and minister, Chava. But Teo's presence on the property disturb's Elí's memories,
and ghosts from the past flood back to haunt both her and Teo.
Laura Crotte gives a funny, quirky and endearing performance as the crusty and guilt-ridden Elí, who speaks mostly in Spanish but her acting and delivery make it clear what she's saying. As Chava, Joseph
Morales brings a charming and cheerful hopefulness to the story. And theater newcomer Diego Josef makes a promising stage debut as Teo, whose mother has been deported to Mexico but he finds a new family in Elí and Chava. Completing the cast are Ana Nicolle Chavez as Paloma and Cesar J. Rosado as Santiago.
Anna Louzos designed the square baseball lot scenery, Danielle Nieves designed costumes, Rui Rita designed the magicalrealism lighting and Leon Rothenberg designed sound, which includes the pop of imaginary baseballs landing in gloves.
The play is light on plot exposition and character development, but it does manage to cover elements of Mexican American baseball history and the very real dangers immigrants faced when they attempted to organize. The play starts off a bit slow but it makes nice twist about an hour in and rewards with a touching finale.