San Francisco Chronicle

Might athlete doping possibly be worth it?

- — Lily Janiak

Chip ( Jomar Tagatac) might have played baseball for the Modesto Mayflies, but he’s always seen his athlete spirit animal as a more determined creature: “a salmon coming up the river and getting that first glimpse of the spawning grounds. How does the salmon know this is the place? Because he feels exactly what I felt when I first saw a big league field.”

Ruben Grijalva’s “Value Over Replacemen­t” is about what might be considered the extreme but logical consequenc­e of Chip’s visceral determinat­ion to play pro ball: doping. But the play’s structure isn’t mere cover-up and expose; it also tackles the difficult truth that for Chip, doping might still have been worth it, even after he got caught.

Jim Kleinmann directs this world premiere as part of the 20th annual PlayGround Festival of New Works.

Value Over Replacemen­t: 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 26. Through July 10. $25$45. Thick House, 1695 18th St., S.F. www.playground-sf.org

 ?? Mellopix.com / PlayGround ?? Christian Haines and Jomar Tagatac in “Value Over Replacemen­t.”
Mellopix.com / PlayGround Christian Haines and Jomar Tagatac in “Value Over Replacemen­t.”

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