X's and O'x - A Football Love Story - It's A Collision Sport (Not a Contact Sport)

What does the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (BRT) and the National Football League (NFL) have in common?  Both institutions LOVE football. One week from today, the NFL will host its biggest party of the year, the 49th Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona; and for the next five weeks, the Berkeley Rep will run its world premiere of X’s and O’s (A Football Love Story), written by playwright KJ Sanchez and co-creator Jenny Mercein.  While gridiron gladiators--the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks--battle it out on the field, the Berkeley Rep Theater will present a “hard-hitting docudrama that examines our country’s passion for a game that is both generous and dangerous, life-giving yet lethal,” noted Sanchez. Photo: Raymond Chester (Raiders), Tim Anderson (49ers), Delvin Williams (49ers) and Guy McIntyre (49ers)

During opening night, Jan. 23rd, X’s and O’s, sprinkled with minor bits of profanity, takes its audience through a football time capsule which begins in the early 1800’s and travels to present-day.  The play offers a different view of America’s favorite and most idolized sport, and focuses on what professional football and its long-term consequences are really about.  Directed by Michael Leibert Artistic Director Tony Taccone, X’s and O’s (A football Love Story) is as “visceral, emotional, and highly theatrical as the game itself.”  While we {the public} are entertained by the ‘thrill of victory and agony of defeat’ of teams pitted against each other in sometimes gruesome, physical combat, this play performance looks at football through the lens of the players, their families and the fans, to fully examine our cultural values around the game.  “It’s a story that presents both the beauty and brutality of the game and how it ties so profoundly into our identity as Americans.”

A major portion of the play emphasizes how the’ wear and tear’ of football takes a toll on athletes’ bodies, particularly when players suffer head trauma.  While football may be a way out of poverty for some, and is known to relieve stress for others, it’s also a sport that has lifelong physical challenges on the players themselves.  Concussions, considered contusions to the head, takes a devastating toll on these players, especially those who have had several concussions throughout their career.  Over 20 years ago the average weight of a linebacker was 235 and now it's 325.  Having that much more weight landing on a player's body can be unbearable, however you dare not show the feeling of pain on the field.  X's and O's describes a situation where a player was on the field wearing a cast for a broken arm, and a hit by that player caused a kidney rupture, given the hit was with the casted arm. {Photo: Khary L. Moye, Actor and Understudy)

The full-contact sport (referred to in this play as a collision sport) can bring riches to some (the industry now boasts annual revenues of $9 billion dollars--the most lucrative in the world) and misery, depression and even death to others.  X’s and O’s examines the philosophy of football and its effect on life itself.  Mercein, the daughter of Chuck Mercein, a Super-Bowl winning former professional player, noted that she sees a lot of parallels between live theatre and live sports. {Photo: Eric Wright, 49ers}

X's and O'x runs through March 1, 2015 at the BerkeleyRepertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley.
 

Written by: Y'Anad Burrell and Clifford L.  Williams