Premiere Stages presents the World Premiere of "Effa Loves Baseball"

Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 09/23/2026

Artwork by Yadira Hernandez

(HILLSIDE NJ) -- Premiere Stages at Kean University presents the premiere production of Effa Loves Baseball by Pia Wilson, the recipient of the 2025/26 Liberty Live Commission, October 15-25, 2026 in Kean University's Enlow Recital Hall. Directed by marcus d. harvey, Effa Loves Baseball features Justin Walter Cook, Grant Kennedy Lewis, DeShawn Harold Mitchell, David Andrew Morton, Greg Alverez Reid, and Kerry Warren as Effa Manley.

In this new play based on the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Effa Manley manages the Newark Eagles, a team she wants to take all the way to the Negro League World Series. Effa battles the press, coaching staff, segregation, and sometimes herself to win at the business of the game she loves most of all. She doesn’t worry about what it will cost her, even if it’s everything.

Pia Wilson wrote the audio component in the Harriet Tubman Monument in Newark, New Jersey, performed by Queen Latifah. She is also a 2024 Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove participant, Traveling Master for Dramatist Guild Foundation, resident with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Sundance fellow, and member of the 2008 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater. Her plays have been produced across the country.

marcus d. harvey’s recent directing credits include Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog (Passage Theatre & Vanguard Theater), Chisa Hutchinson’s Redeemed (CATF & 59e59 Theater), The Wedding Gift (Fordham University), and Surely Goodness and Mercy (Passage Theatre); Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop (Lean Ensemble Theater); and Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn (Burning Coal Theatre). marcus is a multi-hyphenated artist, holding his MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College, MA in Dramatic Writing for Social Change from NYU, and dual undergraduate degrees in Drama and Performance Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Montclair State University.

The accomplished cast includes Justin Walter Cook, who was recently seen in A Raisin in the Sun at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Grant Kennedy Lewis, whose theatre credits include Sanctuary City (Steppenwolf, TheatreWorks Hartford) and Murder on the Orient Express (Drury Lane); DeShawn Harold Mitchell, who played George in the Broadway production of All My Sons (Roundabout Theatre Company); David Andrew Morton, who has appeared in the Broadway National Tours of To Kill a Mockingbird and Jersey Boys; Greg Alverez Reid, who most recently appeared in Julius X at the Folgers Theatre in DC; and Kerry Warren, who has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway at The Public Theater, and regionally at St. Louis Rep, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, and Pittsburgh Public. Kean University Theatre Department student Lucas Luchsinger and alum Christian Martin Montlouis are the understudies.

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The cast of Effa Loves Baseball. From left to right: David Harold Morton, Grant Kennedy Lewis, Kerry Warren, DeShawn Harold Mitchell, Justin Walter Cook and Greg Alverez Reid.

The professional design team includes Set Designer Frank D. Oliva, Costume Designer Niiamar Felder, Lighting Designer Zack Gage, Sound Designer Joanna Lynne Staub, Props Master Ellie Sweeney, Wig Designer Rachelle Dorce, Scenic Artist Mo Lehmberg and Intimacy Choreographer Sanjana Taskar. Casting is by Judy Bowman Casting. Dale Smallwood is the Production Stage Manager and Roe Manzo is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Effa Loves Baseball runs October 15 – 25 in Enlow Recital Hall on Kean University’s East Campus in Hillside, N.J. The performance schedule is Thursdays, October 15 at 7:30pm and October 22 at 10:30am, Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm & 7:30pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm.

Tickets for the Opening Night of Effa Loves Baseball, scheduled for Friday, October 16, are $60. Tickets for all other performances are $42 standard, $32 for senior citizens and Kean alumni and staff, $27 for patrons with disabilities and $18 for students, inclusive of any fees. Significant discounts for groups of ten or more apply. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the box office at 908-737-7469. Enlow Recital Hall is located at 215 North Avenue in Hillside, New Jersey.

Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatre. A series of free interactive lobby talks and post-show discussions are scheduled in conjunction with select performances. All Premiere Stages facilities are fully accessible spaces, and companion seating is available for patrons with disabilities. Premiere Stages also provides free or discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advance notice. Sign-interpreted and audio described performances are available by request, at least three weeks in advance. Please call 908-737-4077 or email [email protected] to request these services.

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, Masterwork Music and Art Foundation, The 1772 Foundation, Carole Shaffer-Koros and Robert Koros, The Northfield Bank Foundation, Blue Foundry Charitable Foundation, Union County Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, The Union County HEART Grant and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.

Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, national origins, nationalities, ancestry, religious groups, gender expression or identities, sexual orientation, political beliefs, ages, abilities and disabilities.

Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus.

Kean University, New Jersey’s urban research university, is a national institution of higher education recognized for its diversity, innovation and the social mobility of its graduates. Designated an R2 research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Kean ranks among the top eight percent of U.S. universities for research and doctorate production. Founded in 1855 as a teachers college, Kean has evolved into a thriving research university that supports nearly 25,000 students worldwide as they persist to graduation, give back to their communities and launch successful careers. Kean’s six colleges offer more than 75 undergraduate programs, 10 doctoral programs and more than 90 graduate options leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications, across a full range of academic subjects. With campuses in Union, Jersey City, Toms River and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, as well as Kean Global, the University provides students of all backgrounds an affordable and accessible world-class education.