Juan Marichal and John Roseboro

I just saw a play at The Public Theatre in New York City called “Juan and John” which explores the Juan Marichal/John Roseboro confrontation in 1965. It is a one person show by Roger Guenveur Smith who created “A Huey P. Newton Story” , on TV in "OZ" and has been in numerous Spike Lee films.  There is ample use of video imagery from that era as well as original music by Marc Anthony Thompson who has toured with Bruce Springsteen and has written music for numerous films and theatre productions. It runs through December 20th.

The play unfolds in 9 scenes/innings, exploring the incident, the individual lives of Juan Marichal in the DR and John Roseboro in Ohio, the Giant/Dodger pennant race, Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the Watts Riots, the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic and the escalation of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam all of which took place in 1965. The play ends with their reconciliation, Roseboro’s death and Marichal’s election into the Hall of Fame.   It's about baseball but it is also about race, rage and the power of redemption and forgiveness.

It’s a powerful piece of theatre about sports and the times in which Juan Marichal and John Roseboro lived in and by extension any of us who are old enough to remember an event which shocked many of us who were kids then(I was 10)and had not seen that kind of violence between players.

I don’t know if it will be heading to SF but if it does you should check it out.