From a profile on MLB.com about the premiere of two one-act plays at NFT: Satchel: A Requiem for Racism and Josh: The Black Babe Ruth, both directed by Eric Coleman.
The plays were especially gratifying for director Eric Coleman, who grew up in Louisville, Ky., with a father who had seen the Negro League players when they came through town.
“I was very excited about the plays simply because people do not know these names, not nearly enough,” Coleman said. “(My father) saw Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. Being a baseball fan and overall sports fan, he would share those stories with me, even as a child. I think people should know these names. They’re important in sports history.
“This is history to some of us, but it’s totally revelatory and new to so many others. (People) leave the theater feeling, ‘There were two great lives well-lived and well-worth looking at.'”
“Satchel was such a cut-up,” Coleman said. “Along with being a great athlete, part of his allure, his appeal, was his ability to put on a show. It’s so interesting that many of the historians say that off the field, he was a rather quiet, reserved sort of fellow. But once he hit that field, he was like an actor on a stage, a real performer, an entertainer on a stage.”
| Credit Type | Production | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Josh: The Black Babe Ruth | 2007-08 Season |
| Director | Satchel: A Requiem for Racism | 2007-08 Season |