Theme/Story
A man hopes to define his legacy by risking his marriage and life savings on the outcome of his softball team's game against an arch rival — a team they have never beaten.
ACT I
Max is a married guy with kids, hitting his forties, and consumed with thoughts about his lasting legacy — at school where he teaches, at home with his family, and as part of a softball team that he has coached for the past fifteen years called The Has-Beens. Max maintains that everyone has a legacy — even a bunch of Has-Beens.
Because Max is grappling with the angst of growing older and regret of missed opportunities, he views The Has-Beens (and close friends on the team) as his last bastion of male-bonding and a sort of mental refuge. He is torn between family commitments and loyalty to his friends, afraid that the burden of family responsibility will lead to a life just like that of his working class father. Max’s wife Rita contends that too often the team seems to come before the family. When a teammate has a problem or crisis, they always call Max.
When Rita unexpectedly announces she’s pregnant and that Max must finally keep his promise about disbanding the softball team, Max gets himself into a quandary when unbeknownst to Rita, he promises his teammates that the only way he’ll break up the team is if they finally beat their arch-rival in an upcoming championship game — a team they’ve never beaten. It’s purely a motivational tactic, but Max has painted himself into a corner, hoping for a positive outcome so he can keep his promise to Rita.
ACT II
Max wants to ensure that the team goes out on a high note and ensure their own legacy. At the same time, Max engages in a personal battle with a city councilman over what he suspects is a potentially controversial development project at the park where the team plays its games. The councilman is also part of the school’s interview process for a new principal — a job that Max dearly wants and tries to pursue. Since the councilman fears a public backlash regarding his sensitive project, he pledges to wield his influence on Max’s behalf, in exchange for Max’s silence until the project is announced to the public. For Max, it is a crisis of conscience.
Meanwhile, during a barroom altercation with some of the opposing softball players, Max makes an ill-advised wager on the upcoming game. Max bets the team tavern, which is part-owned by all the players, some of whom have considerable savings invested in the bar. If The Has-Beens lose the game, they relinquish ownership of the bar, which for Max amounts to several thousand dollars. The situation is further exacerbated by unforeseen personal dramas and conflict involving several teammates, creating a Murphy’s Law of schedule conflicts and the likelihood of being short-handed for the big game and possibly forfeiting without even taking the field.
When Rita discovers the truth about Max’s precondition for breaking up the team — as well as the wager — she views this as the last straw in what has been an ongoing series of misadventures and lack of responsibility. Max arrives home and finds that Rita is gone and taken the kids with her. Finally, when Max discovers that the hush-hush city project is actually a plan to build a condominium development on the site of the park, Max realizes he was misled and deceived for his silence. Max is at the end of his rope — Rita is gone, a forfeit of the big game looks likely, and now he feels as though he has compromised his ideals with the councilman.
ACT III
After a stirring plea from Rita that proves inspirational to Max, he devises a plan and rallies the troops. (1) Max makes a grand and noble gesture to prove his love to Rita, moving her to tears, (2) Max finds a way to inspire and convince the rest of The Has-Beens that the softball contest is more than just a game, (3) Max exposes the councilman in a very public and revealing way, saving the park from the developers, and (4) Max leads the Has-Beens to victory, as the team achieves their overdue glory, though perhaps not in quite the manner they had envisioned. In the end, Max discovers his one true legacy — his family. Max realizes that his family is the number one priority in his life and that everybody does indeed have a legacy — even a bunch of Has-Beens.
Michael Raymond
7719 - 27th Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98117 E-mail