Hobokenites aren't the only ones with a strong connection to baseball. The average American—whether they believe it or not—has a strong tie to the game too. This common thread has led Mile Square Theatre’s 7th Inning Stretch to grow in popularity over the last nine years.
Hoboken has long held the claim of being the birthplace of baseball, with the first organized game held at Elysian Fields in 1845. When MST Artistic Director Chris O’Connor founded the theatre in 2002, he conceived of the annual festival, composed of seven 10-minute plays with the central theme of baseball. Their yearly fundraiser is scheduled for this weekend.
“Knowing we were going to do it again, baseball would have that kind of longevity, baseball would have endless variations on the theme, so it turned out to be a very good idea,” O’Connor said.
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The professional theatre, which produces three shows each year, raises around $10,000 prior to expenses from the show, which is very costly, said O’Connor. This year some of the funds will allow scholarship students to attend their summer youth drama camp for preschoolers through second grade.
While in the past the show was held at the DeBaun Auditorium at the Stevens Institute of Technology, MST has brought the show home to their headquarters at the Monroe Center. Performances will be held on June 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. and June 19 at 2 p.m.
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Saturday night’s show will also include a “Triple Play Party,” with food and drinks and playwrights on hand. Major League Baseball productions will be on hand that night to film the show.
“It’s very exciting that this idea is going to be broadcast nationally,” said O’Connor.
The idea has for the most part remained the same, said O’Connor. Each year they commission seven playwrights, now by invitation only, to write 10-minute plays that have a theme of baseball and have no more than five actors. They then ask professional actors to volunteer their time for the show.
One play is about a group of friends playing catch, comically talking about the philosophy of baseball. Another is about middle-age anxiety compared to the metaphor of being a batter at the plate. O’Connor said that the theater-goer need not have any interest in baseball to understand and enjoy themselves.
Playwright Jenny Lyn Bader’s “The Joint Collection” is about a wife who learns her husband doesn’t have his valuable baseball collection because he combined his collection with a friend from high school who now has possession of it.
“It could be any play about a married couple and whatever struggles they have, but it’s still really a valentine to baseball,” said Jeff Gurner, of Hoboken, a professional actor who is performing the role of the husband.
Lacy J Dunn, of New York City, was asked by O’Connor to take the part of the wife after being a student of his at Rutgers University. Dunn, not a fan of the sport, finds it to be “pretty funny.”
Other playwrights include Brian Dykstra, Michael Jon Garces, Alex, Gherardi, Matthew Lawler, Raymond McAnally, and Candido Tirado.
“Mile Square Theatre is just a diamond, it’s a gem of Hoboken, and its important that it is in Hoboken and it’s a professional theatre,” said Gurner. “Aside from that fact, if you are a Hoboken resident, we all know baseball started here. Supporting professional theatre in Hoboken gives Hoboken residents and everybody else a real opportunity to help theatre thrive in our neighborhood.”
Tickets are $25 for June 17, $50 for June 18, and $25 for June 19. Purchase tickets in advance for the 120-seat theatre at www.milesquaretheatre.org or call (201) 683-7014.
