COBB, Profile Theater Reading -

By Lee Blessing
Directed by Jason Maniccia
Cast:
Mr. Cobb  .....   Dick McMahon
The Peach   .....   Andy Lee-Hillstrom
Ty   .....   Todd Hermanson
Oscar Charleston  .....   Victor Mack

sez says: this is a near perfect play..the main character is represented by three characters (the kid-Cobb; the in his prime Cobb, and the old man-Cob) and by the knowledge of his worst shortcoming. Played by Victor Mack, Oscar Charleston (aka the Black Cobb)  haunts Ty Cobb--becasue his refusal to play against blacks means he would never know if he was really THE BEST.  And being THE BEST was all Ty Cobb ever wnated to be--no matter what it took. And he was willing to use any means available 'to win'--including slamming his cleats into a catchers chest--and attacking fans who heckled him, etc.  Cobb wanted to be remebered--and maybe he wanted to be loved-- but being remembered, being 'a winner' (in baseball and in finance) is what drove him--- so he was not a nice man.  But he still thought of himself as a winner-- 'the best'--but then there was Charleston--who sits in the shadow oif his memory/consciousness and will always be the block to knowing if he was really "the best."  Since he wouldn't play againt Charleston he/we can't know who 'the best' really was --and even with all of his talent--it would be hard for any one to walk away from this story saying "I like Ty Cobb'  there is nothing to like about him --but this play about him  is a fabulous study in looking at skill and ambition gone ugly.  RECOMMENDED

mjc says: revived my interest in baseball, great way to tell a person's story with multiple generations on the same stage.