Arts West Swings For the (Padded) Walls
category:Arts and Entertainment posted:February 13th, 2008
What: The Sweetest Swing in Baseball
By Rebecca Gilman
When: February 20 - March 15
Price: $29
(Under 25? Only $10!)
Where: ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery
4711 California Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98116
www.artswest.org
Box Office: (206) 938-0339
Seattle, WA: ArtsWest steps up to the plate with the Seattle Premiere of Rebecca Gilman’s newest play. The Sweetest Swing in Baseball runs at ArtsWest February 20 through March 15, produced in association with Seattle Public Theater.
“I've always liked Rebecca Gilman's work,” said ArtsWest executive director Alan Harrison. “I immediately loved the whole notion of The Sweetest Swing in Baseball. It's a play about success and failure and the pinnacles and pitfalls of each. It should stir up a lot of conversation.”
Here’s the pitch: Dana Fielding is a successful artist whose latest exhibition completely flops. As does her personal life. To dig herself out of her crisis, she is admitted to a psychiatric hospital and seeks inspiration from – and takes the identity of – the bad boy of baseball, Darryl Strawberry. The Sweetest Swing in Baseball is a funny, biting tale of insanity, health insurance, and being all that you can be (even when you’re being someone else).
Directed by Shana Bestock, this co-production stars ArtsWest favorite Heather Hawkins as Dana, the troubled artist, and also features Gavin Cummins, Trick Danneker, Kelly Kitchens and Karen Nelsen.
Sets will be designed by Craig Wollam (The Retreat from Moscow), with lighting by Sean Begley and sound by Evan Middlesworth. Pete Rush (Bat Boy) returns to ArtsWest to costume the show.
Originally produced by the Royal Court Theater (London) in March 2004, this will mark the Seattle premiere of the play. The Sweetest Swing in Baseball performs at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery February 20 – March 15 and then moves to Seattle Public Theater March 20 – April 13.
ArtsWest’s presentation of The Sweetest Swing in Baseball is made possible in part by The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
About ArtsWest: ArtsWest produces artistic events so fiercely compelling that they require conversation, improve the imagination, and promote cultural vibrancy as a core value for the communities of West Seattle. Utilizing a 149-seat, 3/4 thrust theater and visual art gallery, ArtsWest has presented over 400 different performing arts productions and gallery exhibitions to over 200,000 visitors since 1999.
