New York City
“I had to play . . . I wanted to find the heart of the game.” Toni Stone dreams of nothing but baseball. But to become the first woman to play professionally as a member of the Negro League’s Indianapolis Clowns, she must confront hostile crowds, ruthless team owners, and players who slide spikes first. As she negotiates life’s challenges and opportunities on and off the field, Toni stays true to herself and reaches for who she can be.
In this new play, playwright Lydia R. Diamond (Broadway’s Stick Fly and Showtime’s The Affair) uncovers the theatrical journey in Martha Ackmann’s book, Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone. The culmination of a six-year collaboration between Diamond and director Pam MacKinnon, Toni Stone is the extraordinary, real-life story of a trail-blazing Bay Area athlete.