Last night, I bravely attended a performance of my friend Ken Levine's new play, Going, Going, Gone. This is a brave thing to do because even great playwrights sometimes write poor plays and if your friend does that, you have to either lie or tell him you didn't like what he may have spent a year writing. Fortunately, I didn't have to do either. Ken's play is pretty funny and never for a moment dull.
Going, Going, Gone takes place in a viewing box for press at a baseball game. Four people are up there covering the game and they are played by Annie Abrams, David Babich, Troy Metcalf and Dennis Pearson…and I should say here that the cast is uniformly excellent and one of the reasons I enjoyed myself so much. Each of the folks in the press box has their problems. Each of them comes to terms with those problems in some manner during a very long, extra-innings game. (The game runs something like 18 innings over eight hours but don't worry. The play itself is only around ninety minutes.)
They squabble, they conspire, they laugh, they debate what it means to be remembered in this world and whether you really want to be, they bare their fears and hopes. During those ninety minutes, they cover an awful lot of topics and work through an awful lot of emotions. David's character falls in love (or maybe like) with Annie's. Annie's character confronts the way men treat women who invade a primarily-male workplace, and she also deals with issues she has with her offstage boy friend. Dennis's character deals with the declining call for his profession — writing for print newspapers — while Troy's character, who writes for a website, needles him about his future, and everyone insults Troy's character for his overeating and girth.
But that's far from all of it. I was actually impressed with how many things are happening in that press box…and way, way down on the list is covering the game they're there to cover. You don't have to know a thing about baseball to enjoy the story. The direction by Andrew Barnicle, who did Ken's last play, is sharp and you never lose focus even for a moment amidst all the balks and errors that are these folks' lives.
(Hmm…I just took a look at that review I wrote about Ken's last play and I see I said a lot of the same things I just said about this one. Well, why not? Same author, same director.)
The play is running for the next four weekends at the Hudson Guild Theater near the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Info and tickets are here…though I'll let you in on a secret. You can save some bucks securing your seats through Goldstar. The theater is not large so expect most performances to sell out.
If you live too far away or can't get there while it's running, don't dismay. I have a feeling this play is going to be around for a while in some form and some localities. Maybe there'll be a production near you before long.