Jennifer Mogbock as Toni Stone; Photograph © T Charles Erickson
Presented by The Huntington
Written and Directed by Lydia R. Diamond
Inspired by Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone by Martha Ackmann
Choreography by Ebony Williams
Dramaturgy by Charles Haugland
Fight direction and intimacy choreography by Ted Hewlett
Vocal coaching by Kim James Bey
May 17 – June 16, 2024
Blackout Performance: June 11, 7 pm
Open Caption Performance: 6/4 at 7:30 pm
ASL Performance: 6/7 at 8 pm
Audio Described Performance: 6/15 at 2:30 pm
Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
2 hours and 20 minutes including intermission
Content Advisories: Toni Stone contains flashing lights, the use of herbal cigarettes, strong themes of racism and misogyny, and discussions of sexual violence.
Critique by Kitty Drexel
BOSTON, Mass. — Lydia R Diamond’s Toni Stone had a triumphant opening on Wednesday, May 22. The Huntington took America’s pastime, the culture of and for the masses, into art for those who can afford a ticket. Toni Stone plays at The Huntington through June 16. It is available for pay-what-you-wish digital streaming HERE.
I’m a bespectacled geek made for comfort, not speed with an avid distaste for projectiles in all forms. I loathed gym class in school. Every New England summer, it felt like the world opened its heart and screen doors for Spring Training. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
My biggest childhood complaint against baseball was its lack of women and women’s stories. Football had cheerleaders. Baseball had nothing; it was all sweaty, spitting dudes posing for other dudes and butt-slapping. When I got older, I sang the “National Anthem” at games and left before the first pitch. As a deeply closeted queer kid with a strong aversion to speeding leather projectiles whizzing past my cranium at high velocities, I put up with baseball because I had to.
I wonder if reading about Toni Stone would’ve changed things for me. Hearing the Toni Stone cast explain the game rules and why they love it certainly did. I know now that exercise can be enjoyable; it doesn’t have to suck as hard as gym class did. Toni Stone loved baseball more than she loved anything else. Knowing that there was a woman who loved baseball that much and who could keep up with and factually beat men at their own game might have changed my teenage perception of baseball.
Play summary from The Huntington’s website: “Toni Stone is an ace ballplayer who knows her stats. Plus she’s got a great arm. Rejected by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her race, Stone becomes the first woman to play professional baseball on a man’s team in the Negro Leagues. She shatters expectations and creates her own set of rules.” Toni Stone is adapted by Lydia R Diamond from Martha Ackmann’s book Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone.
Jennifer Mogbock captivates and dominates the stage as the title character and baseball’s queen of second base*, Toni Stone. Through Mogbock, we see clearly Stone’s strong personality and sincere devotion to sport as art and lifestyle. Mogbock gives us pulls into Toni’s world.
She has such strong conviction as Toni, that I left the theatre understanding America’s baseball obsession. I got over it because I don’t enjoy ensemble sports, but for two hours I thought maybe I did. Mogbock’s great acting and Diamond’s great writing made this white af geek question her life choices.
The ensemble of Toni Stone is tasked with representing all of the communities Toni Stone interacts with during her storied career. The actors play their characters as baseball players first. This means that, regardless of the gender or race of their secondary and tertiary roles in the show, their primary role is as teammate to Stone. We see the cast of Black, male actors play women and other races with respect. They are a visual representation of how Stone sees the world and a reminder to the audience that Stone’s world is majority male.
It is so refreshing to see men play women without reducing female characters to a stereotype for Boomer laughs. Toni Stone has comedic moments. Diamond and her cast ensure that women and trans women aren’t the butt of those comedic moments. It means Toni Stone’s jokes land sincerely.
Toni Stone the play isn’t strictly by Ackermann’s book. Those who have read Ackmann’s biography or know about Stone’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame will note inconsistencies. A book tells a story differently from a play tells a story differently from a movie. Features that make these mediums unique also set them apart; they demand different storytelling techniques. This is normal.
Theatre uses lies to tell truths; Toni Stone is a play in this grand tradition. Diamond captures the essence of Toni Stone by condensing her life into a 140-minute play. Diamond combines characters to deliver concise messages. She jumps across time to show us the most important moments. Given the enormity of the task set to her by The Huntington to adapt Stone’s life and career into one play (instead of, say, a trilogy that addresses Stone’s life after her career in the Professional Negro League and Stone’s legacy as a Black female athlete), Diamond accomplishes the implausible.
Other biographers commit sins of fabrication to spin an autobiography into a relatable tale (Amadeus). The theatrical bones for Toni Stone already existed as publicly available, historical knowledge. A great story is allowed to heighten drama as necessary for a better retelling. Diamond enhances nuance and arranges real drama from Stone’s life to draw the audience into the play. Theatre doesn’t bend the truth so much as reshape it to reveal what a story is instead of a literal, play-by-play reenactment. Diamond’s Toni Stone aims to tell the story of a baseball genius. It does exactly that.
Haugland’s excellent dramaturgy is here.
If baseball games had choreography like Ebony Williams’ (Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”), I’d watch baseball games. Williams captures baseball fans’ enthusiasm at a game while also dramatically supporting the themes of minstrelsy in the play. We are entertained; we are enthusiastic and appreciative, but Toni Stone isn’t a dance show. The actors on stage are performing vintage Blackness for a majority white audience. Williams’ choreography reverberates centuries of minstrelsy forward and back. When you watch Ebony Williams’ dance routines, I urge you to appreciate the 600 years of oppression represented onstage that we are still dismantling today.
If you enjoyed Diamond and the Huntington’s Toni Stone, I recommend Amazon’s TV show reboot of the 1992 movie A League of Their Own. This series is not strictly factual – it takes liberties with her story just like it takes liberties with the women’s baseball league in general – but it is wonderfully acted and edited. Chanté Adams plays Stone with agility and gravitas.
Martha Ackmann’s biography of Toni Stone, Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone is a great read for baseball fans as well as fans of a great story. Ackmann includes stats and facts about many of the Professional Negro League player, men and women. Stone’s stories has ups and down. Ackmann weaves a fine tale about bravery, adventure, setbacks and human resilience. Her sources are solid and her delivery is keen. It’s a great read for fans of the game looking to find the soul of the sport through the life of a woman dedicated to sharing its greatness across America.
*This meant something very different in college. You do you.
UPDATE: Writer Martha Ackmann’s name was misspelled in a previous version of this article. We humbly apologize. (We sat behind you at the performance; the back of your head is very pretty. Congratulations on your success!)
