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HomeEventStealin’ Home (A Baseball Fantasy) by Fred Newman at the Castillo Theatre

Stealin’ Home (A Baseball Fantasy) by Fred Newman at the Castillo Theatre

You know Jackie Robinson the icon, now meet the man

Stealin’ Home (A Baseball Fantasy) by Fred Newman

Directed by Charles Weldon

October 11-November 24, 2013

Castillo TheatreStealin’ Home (A Baseball Fantasy) by Fred Newman is a play about Jackie Robinson, baseball and America’s imperfect integration. “Stealin’ Home has much to share on racism, hero worship, cultural changes in the United States…” — The New York Times (November 20, 2004). Stealin’ Home locates the impact of integration of the Major League Baseball in 1947 within the social changes that were to follow. The drama opens on October 11 and runs through November 24 at the Castillo Theatre.

While many are familiar with the highlights of Robinson’s life and career (told most recently through the biopic, 42 written and directed by Brian Helgeland) the play is comprised of a series of intimate conversations between Jackie, his teammate, Pee Wee and a mysterious woman named Sojourner; not in the most dramatic moments, but instead in the quieter moments of Robinson’s life.

Playwright Fred Newman, who grew up across the street from the old Yankee Stadium, had a lifelong love affair with America’s pastime, and identified with no team more than Robinson’s Dodgers. In his author’s note Newman wrote, “Ultimately there was no ‘real’ Jackie Robinson; there were only the subjective images of this extraordinary athlete and social symbol who broke baseball’s vulgar color barrier in 1947.”

Stealin’ Home features Daniel Hickman as “Jackie Robinson”, Nick Webster as “Pee Wee” and Ava Jenkins as “Sojourner”. Jenkins received an AUDELCO Award for Excellence in Black Theatre in 2012 for Outstanding Female Performance in a Musical for her portrayal of Sally Hemings in the Castillo Theatre’s popular Sally and Tom (The American Way).

Director Charles Weldon is the artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company and has directed around the country. His acting career includes such classic screen works as Roots: The Next Generations and Stir Crazy; his stage credits include Hair, A Soldiers Story and The Piano Lesson, among many others. In 2009 the Negro Ensemble Company, Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre and the Castillo Theatre co-produced Leslie Lee’s Sundown Names and Night-Gone Things, beginning the relationship between Weldon and Castillo.

The Castillo Theatre (Dan Friedman, artistic director, Diane Stiles, managing director) produces cutting-edge political theatre, and serves as a multicultural home to Black theatre, with an eclectic season of offerings. Castillo is located at 543 West 42nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. October 11 through November 24. Tickets are $35 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Group rates are available. Tickets can be purchased through the Castillo Box Office at 212-941-1234 or at www.castillo.org.

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