(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The Middletown Arts Center, in collaboration with the Dunbar Repertory Company, presents Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, written by Ed Schmidt and directed by Mark Antonio Henderson, October 15th through 17th. In this engrossing production, Joe Louis, Paul Robeson, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, Branch Rickey, meet in 1947 to discuss a strategy for dropping a baseball bombshell: promoting a black player to the major leagues. Performances run October 15-17.
In the play, baseball’s Opening Day is one week away, and Branch Rickey will call up Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier and play as the Major League’s first black ballplayer. If he does, Robinson will face loud and heated opposition from virtually every owner, manager and player as the play becomes a powerful vehicle for analyzing issues of race and society that go beyond baseball. The production features actors Terrence Berry, Thomas Cox, Antonio M. Johnson, Arthur Gregory Pugh, Collin Roach and Joseph G. Taylor.
Show dates for Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting are Friday, October 15th at 8:00pm, Saturday, October 16th at 3:00pm and 8:00pm and Sunday, October 17th at 4:00pm. Ticket prices are $20 and are general admission. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the MAC Box Office at 732.706.4100.
The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, New Jersey (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in station metered lot weekday evenings after 6:00pm and weekends.
Known to residents of Central New Jersey as “Monmouth County’s African American Theater Company”, Dunbar Repertory Company is committed to its mission of perpetuating an appreciation of cultural diversity and celebrating African American culture through LIVE literary readings, main stage theatrical productions, education programs and services.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex is minutes away at the Middletown Reformed Church’s Education Building.
The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council which is dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.