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REDSHIRTS
Dramaturgical Notes

Fields of Play

A Dramaturgical Essay by Stephanie Lein Walseth

Recent sports-related scandals, some involving prominent professional athletes, some implicating previously unknown college students, scream from the headlines of newspapers and websites on an almost weekly basis. Often, critics are quick to single out the accused, and to isolate the incident as a personal failure. Rarely, however, do the news stories reveal the complex social structures that may be contributing factors to the condemned behavior, nor the scope of implications for everyone involved. It is here, at the intersection between individual responsibility and larger social systems, that the heart of the matter truly lies.

In REDSHIRTS, playwright Dana Yeaton takes us into the heart of a controversy and reveals the layers of complexity that ESPN misses. Beneath their outward bravado, each character has a burden to bear, a difficult ethical decision to weigh. What should a coach do when he faces losing his best new talent? Should a black, female college professor overlook potential wrongdoing because of the impact it could cause? Is an undergraduate athlete’s highest loyalty to his own playing time, his homework, or his teammates? Layers of antagonism – between academics and athletics, black and white, male and female, adult and student – complicate each encounter, each relationship. And yet, despite the gravity of the situation, humor erupts and unexpected alliances are forged. In REDSHIRTS one thing is certain: nothing is simple.

This production marks the world premiere of the play, a co-presentation with Round House Theatre of Bethesda, Maryland, where it will travel next. A project three years in the making, its evolution has included a staged reading by the Sight Unseen Theatre Company of California, and a live performance of excerpts by the football players whose voices and experiences helped to shape the piece you’ll see today.

With this production, Penumbra kicks off its 31st season. Before journeying back to the beginning of the last millennium, and the beginning of the last century with the rest of the season’s productions, REDSHIRTS focuses the theatrical lens on an aspect of the African American experience that is ripped from the headlines of the new millennium. For essays, trivia and an inside look at REDSHIRTS, please download Penumbra’s study guide online at: penumbratheatre.org.

Stephanie Lein Walseth
August Wilson Fellow