Pulitzer Prize winning play premieres at Basile Westfield Playhouse
By SHANA SLOMA
shana@readthereporter.com
Beginning this Thursday, Main Street Productions (MSP) is giving audiences a chance to relive their high school glory days in Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, That Championship Season, to stage at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield.
Director Lori Raffel will lead an ensemble cast of five men struggling to accept the direction their lives have taken following the greatest moment of their lives two and a half decades earlier.
The Reporter spoke to Raffel about the context of the play, her motivation behind directing this specific production, and finding the right cast to carry out her creative vision.
“The play takes place in Scranton, Pa.,” Raffel told The Reporter. “It is the 25-year reunion of a basketball team that won the state championship in 1952. The team is getting back together again. Some of them haven’t left town, and some of them have. It’s about the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with that. They all start to find out that winning [the championship] might have been the best thing that ever happened in their lives, and that none of their lives turned out the way they thought they would.”
When asked about the length and structure of the play, Raffel told The Reporter that she will not present the play in a series of acts but in a continuous 90-minute production.
“It’s 90 minutes straight through,” Raffel said. “It is broken into acts in the original script, but I took that out. It’s in real time. It’s from when [the characters] arrive at the reunion straight through to the end.”
Raffel said that she had first liked the play when reading it in college, but her affection for it deepened when she witnessed the Carmel Greyhounds win their first basketball championship in 1977.
“I read this play back when I was in theater school at IU,” Raffel said. “It hadn’t been out for very long, but I just thought that it was a really cool story. And part of that is because I was around when Carmel and the Shepherds won the State Championship. It was like a Cinderella story. It was so wonderful. It just made me think of how the town comes together. It was just a really special thing.”
Raffel told The Reporter that while the play does contain some controversial themes and inappropriate language, she thinks that audiences will not take offense.
“There is a lot of humor in it, but it’s also poignant, as well,” Raffel said. “It has rough language and racial slurs, but it’s 1977. I don’t think [the audience] will be offended because it’s just the way that people talked.”
But foul language did not keep people from trying out. While the script was off-putting to some of the men who auditioned, Raffel told The Reporter that there was no shortage of potential talent on each night of auditions.
“Some people asked to see the script and they said, ‘Not for me,’ which is fine,” Raffel said. “I just needed five actors. I had about 10 each night at auditions, so I had a good amount to choose from.”
Raffel told The Reporter that she is happy with her selection of actors for the upcoming production.
“Two of them I’ve worked with before, and one I know,” she said. “The other two I’ve never worked with, but you just get the feeling, and they got it. They got the script. They got the humor and the sadness that’s in it.”
When asked what makes someone a great actor, Raffel said that personal experience is the key to effective acting.
“To me, the best actors are the ones who are damaged,” Raffel said. “There are people who act, but they’ve never really been through anything in their lives. All these guys were able to bring that [life] experience with them to the show.
Raffel said that although she and the rest of the cast have spent many hours rehearsing for That Championship Season, she has thoroughly enjoyed her time directing such talented people.
“We’ve really had a good time doing this,” she said. “All the guys are wonderful.”
But Raffel said she does not think That Championship Season is for everyone. She thinks the foul language and thematic content make it best suited for slightly older audiences.
“I do not think this is a play for small children,” Raffel said. “It should be rated at least PG-13.”
But Raffel told The Reporter that she has also enjoyed the challenge brought forth by directing such a controversial play.
“It’s not easy theater,” she said. “But I don’t think theater should be easy.”
That Championship Season will run April 4 to 14 at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees are at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at WestfieldPlayhouse.org or by calling (317) 402-3341.