Ken Coughlin’s New Plays Are Love Letters to Two Legendary Pastimes

The award-winning Ken Coughlin has turned his attention to two of the most cherished pursuits of modern times: Baseball and Music. Hang Up Your Cleats, directed by Laurie Rae Waugh, and The Next Audition, directed by Coughlin, are performed together at the American Theatre of Actors, and truly fit like a glove. They are an insightful look at two of the passions that define modern culture, and how they inspire and connect people from all walks of life. Both plays are realized by a cast that brings a fitting charm and warmth to Coughlin’s resonant words.

Hang Up Your Cleats follows its characters over the course of over 20 years, beginning in 1931 during the prohibition era. The setting is a Speakeasy in a town with a popular baseball team at its center. The team’s star hitter, Otto Grafton (Kevin Ford), is in a 27-week slump, which he responds to by slumping into the bar to nurse his wounds. He tells the bar’s owner, Bart (Phil Oetiker), a devoted fan, that he is going to quit. The kindly Bart talks him into giving it one more go, promising that he will hang up Otto’s cleats behind the bar as a tribute when he eventually does retire (and giving the play’s title a second, more positive meaning).

This leads to a series of emotional vignettes over the course of the next two decades, segueing to the sounds of many different renditions of “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.” Bart’s son, Bart Jr. (Brian Michael O’ Neill) takes over the bar, Prohibition ends, and soon, the cleats above the bar multiply—a makeshift Wall of Fame for the town’s ballplayers, both famous and under-the-radar. We meet Cliff Samson (Dennis Mullikin), a kid who has just been cut from the local team. Soon we see that Bart Jr. has not only inherited his dad’s bar, but his compassion and love of the game as well—he urges Cliff not to give up.

In the spring of 1943, the bar is host to ballplayers Luke (Daniel Dennehy), Jim (Jacob Ward), and Benny (Luc Mitchell). The trio announce to Bart that they are not reporting to spring training, and due to the year, we immediately know why. Moved by their sacrifice, Bart hangs up their cleats in honor of the men. After the war ends, Women’s Baseball players Shirley (Julianne Lorndale) and Nadine (Sonia Halle) come into Bart’s to lament the end of their league, considered superfluous when all the male stars returned from overseas. Bart gives them both a place on the cleat wall, and starts a relationship with Shirley. Now partners in life and in business, the two meet Calvin Briggs (Will Allen). Calvin is a ballplayer from the Negro Leagues whose team has disbanded. Bart and Shirley welcome and honor him, rebuking former ballplayer Sam (also played by Oetiker) for his bigotry when he encounters Calvin.

The kind heart and compassion of Bart Jr., beautifully portrayed by O’Neill, is at the center of the play, coupled with the magical ability of baseball to bring people together. Bart’s bar becomes the “Cheers” of the town, and as the story progresses into the 1950s, all the characters come together as a kind of family—including Eloise (Aileen Bergin) and Martha (Valerie O’ Hara), sister and mom of one of the ballplayers. The group is united by their support of each other in hard times, shared history, and their devotion to the National Pastime. It all comes together to make Hang Up Your Cleats a moving tribute to human resilience and connection.

The topic shifts to music with The Next Audition. It’s the story of gigging lifelong guitarist Ken (Coughlin), as relayed and debated by Tom (Thomas J. Kane) and Val (Valerie O’Hara). The play is cleverly staged In Ken’s workshop, where he wordlessly tinkers with five guitars in the background while Tom and Val regale us with stories of his misadventures on the local concert circuit over the years—the gig on the boardwalk that lasted one night; the residency at the Italian restaurant that made it to a miraculous three weeks.

“Who wants to hear a bad, loud version of ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’ while they’re trying to enjoy their Risotto alle coste?” scoffs Tom.

Ken is seemingly oblivious to their conversation as he meditatively works on his collection. As opposed to the cynical Tom, Val is generally encouraging of Ken’s goals.

“You never get more unless you demand it,” she proclaims, suggesting that Tom is a dream-destroyer.

“Well maybe he should have spent more time getting the gigs that paid more,” he snarks back, suggesting that each failed endeavor only causes Ken to slide into despair. “He’s just going to get hurt again.”

Tom and Val are our guides to Ken’s journey from one project to the next, including a chaotic turn in one of the infamous Beatles Tribute bands. We hear the stories of Ken battling egos, creative differences, and frequent rejections, and ending up with little money or recognition to show for it. Though Ken never says a word, he’s clearly wondering if he’s wasting his time too by trying again and again. The dénouement, with Ken alone, is poignant, but fittingly, he performs a beautiful song, signaling that the show must go on. The funny and poignant play is a moving and familiar story for all of us in the entertainment business who have been constantly knocked down and always gotten up again.

Hang Up Your Cleats and The Next Audition are performed together at the Sargent Theatre at the American Theatre of Actors through November 3, 2024.