"Value Over Replacement" at PlayGround

I'm getting things a little out of order, because I still have three more plays from Ashland that I need to write about. That's embarrassing. But I need to get to this one because it was so good and it's only got two more performances.

First, a word about PlayGround. PlayGround is a program for encouraging and training new playwrights. The take a group of writers and meet weekly. They get a topic and four days to write, then deliver their 10-page results. At the end of the year, the best are culled into the "Best of PlayGround," and a few will be selected to get developed further into full plays, which go through workshops and eventually, performance. That culminates in the annual "Festival of New Works," which are fully-staged productions with professional cast, crew, and direction.

Such was the play we saw tonight, which originated as a 10-page effort about four years ago, and is now a full-length play. And it's about baseball, among other things. It's called "Value Over Replacement," written by Ruben Grijalva.

The Play

Chip Fuller is a retired baseball player, now doing a daily radio talk show in San Francisco with a writer from the Chronicle. When the baseball commissioner's office releases its report on performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, Chip's name is included. Awkwardness ensues (to put it mildly).

The key is that Chip wasn't a big star (but one of his teammates, also included in the report, was). He was a marginal player, struggling to make the major leagues after a number of years, and at risk of falling out of baseball with a minor injury. So he decides to try some PEDs. It works.

The term "value over replacement" is one used in baseball stats to try to measure how good a given player is, relative to an average player you might replace him with. The idea is that if you're not as good as that replacement player, you'll probably get replaced. So we investigate the behavior of players on the margins, who might be the replacement, or the one replaced.

This play is extremely well written. The dialogue is very believable, and there are a number of really interesting, complex characters. The themes of the play touch on moral ambiguity, family commitment, and chasing dreams. The triumphs and tragedies, the mixed feelings of and about the characters, are enthralling.

Go See It

I won't spend a lot of time critiquing the performance itself. PlayGround productions are always a bit sparse. But really, the acting is quite good, and the script is terrific. Unfortunately, there are only two performances left in the very brief run of this show, and both are this Sunday: a matinee and an evening performance. If you have a chance, go see it. I think you'll be impressed.