On Saturday night, I went to the Huntington Theatre in Boston for the very first time to see a play called Toni Stone.
Toni Stone has the distinction of being the first woman to play in the Negro Leagues having done so with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953 and the Kansas City Monarchs in 1954. I must admit to not knowing that and am curious why her mark on the history of the Negro Leagues wasn't included in the Negro Leagues traveling exhibit Breaking Barriers - From Jackie to Pumpsie: 1947-1959 which passed through Boston last July. As such I was curious about the play and decided to go see it.
It actually marked the first time I've seen a play in nearly 8 years. The last play I attended took place on Fourth of July weekend in 2016 when I saw an off-Broadway production of the Marx Brothers lost stage show I'll Say She Is at the Connelly Theater on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Toni Stone was written by Lydia Diamond who adapted it from Martha Ackmann's 2010 biography Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone. Now I have not read Ackmann's book. However, upon seeing the play, I had the sense that Stone (played by Jennifer Mogbock) was speaking in the voice of Diamond rather than Stone. To some degree, any play written about a real person is going to invariably reflect the voice of the playwright especially if there is little in the way of first-hand information from the subject in question. But Diamond's voice was so strong, I learned precious little about Toni Stone.
As such I did not have a ball attending this play, but I would get one anyway. There were several scenes in Toni Stone when the Indianapolis Clowns were tossing the ball around. One of the balls rolled off the stage. Sitting in the first seat of the second row, I grabbed the ball as if I were chasing a foul ball hit into the stands. This drew some laughter. As it turned out, the baseball was essentially a foam nerf ball.
Following intermission, the second half of the play began with a couple of the actors tossing these balls to the spectators. I'm not sure if this is a regular feature of the play or if my little stunt inspired this gesture. Either way, it was a light-hearted moment which engaged the audience.
There was one part of this experience which reminded of attending I'll Say She Is in New York. At the Connelly Theatre, men and women shared the same bathroom. The same is true at the Huntington although there were a couple of single occupant bathrooms. The main bathroom though is co-ed. Fortunately, there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 stalls whereas the Connelly had only three stalls in the entire facility.
I understand this is done to accommodate transgender and or non-binary individuals and the theatre is a community where they feel safe. Nevertheless, I remain uneasy sharing a bathroom with a woman and I'm sure most of the women were uneasy sharing the bathroom with other men even with a larger number of stalls.
As for Toni Stone, while I have mixed feelings about the play, I am curious to know more about Toni Stone and hopefully I can find that knowledge in Martha Ackmann's autobiography. In the meantime, I can enjoy my souvenir ball.
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