Courtesy Phillip Hamer Photography
The stage is set for a historical soccer performance in Downtown West, where a new cast of soccer stars is ready for the spotlight. Across the street from CITYPARK, at the intersection of Olive and 22nd, a theater has been fashioned to welcome throngs of cheering St. Louis soccer supporters for the debut of Shakespeare in the Streets: “The Game’s Afoot,” a play penned by St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman. The script for the show, which runs Thursday through Saturday, is inspired by William Shakespeare’s Henriad, with St. Louis soccer lore serving as the new epic’s setting. Here’s what to know before you go.
Background
Each summer, the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival celebrates the contributions and culture of a specific St. Louis neighborhood through its Shakespeare in the Streets production. This year, the organization decided to take a different approach, highlighting the history of soccer in St. Louis to coincide with St. Louis CITY SC’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer.
“We’ve been doing Shakespeare in the Streets for 10 years, and it’s always been about the story of a community. Typically, that’s meant a neighborhood,” said Tom Ridgely, producing artistic director for the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. “With all the excitement, energy, and enthusiasm around the team launching, it just felt like this is the moment to try and tell the story of this different kind of community, of this huge, multigenerational, incredible sport.”
Enter Hochman, who has chronicled the crests and troughs of St. Louis sports for the local daily since 2015. This isn’t the first play authored by Hochman, either. While a student at Clayton High School in 1998, he wrote a madcap tale about a baseball expansion franchise in Salt Lake City, Utah and its ridiculous owner. So Hochman has a history of blending arts and athletics in fun and creative ways.
“I like to joke that every quarter century I write a play about sports,” Hochman said.
This particular production has been in the works for more than a year. Hochman, Ridgely, and director Adam Flores discovered early on that they had rich material from which to draw.
“The thing that’s interesting about doing this work in 2023 is that people spend more time in their affinity communities, which are communities people choose based on their shared, similar interests, than they do in their geographic communities,” Flores said. “You spend more time talking to the people that like the things that you like than you do the person who lives right next door to you. So there was a real speed at which we were able to move through the community and make connections with people that came from it being about an affinity community.”
The story
Although the basis for Hochman’s story is a series of plays about English history in Shakespeare’s Henriad, he spent months talking to St. Louisans with deep connections to the local soccer scene to give his production its personality. Hochman’s tale features memories from players at all levels, from local youth leagues all the way to the FIFA World Cup.
Courtesy Phillip Hamer Photography
“It was hard to cut it down because I had gathered so much information and there is so much soccer history,” Hochman said. “I mean, Dave Lange literally wrote a book on it, and it’s a big, thick book. It’s not a pamphlet. There’s so much to write about in regards to St. Louis soccer, history, and culture.”
The full performance will last approximately 80 minutes, with no intermission.
“I kind of think of this play like the Billy Joel song, ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire,’” Hochman said. “There are dozens and dozens of references to things from St. Louis soccer history.”
One of the most enjoyable parts of the process for Hochman was adapting the St Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V to fit the context of sports. As it turned out, the fit was fairly seamless. In the original St Crispin’s Day Speech—"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers"—Henry V delivers a rousing address to his soldiers, who are outnumbered entering a battle against the French army.
“As our director Adam Flores says, it’s the first-ever locker room speech,” Hochman said. “We use the St Crispin’s Day Speech to pump up the St. Louis soccer team in the big moment—the big game—in the play.”
Special surprises
Each of the three performances will feature a guest star with ties to the St. Louis soccer community. Lori Chalupny, a longtime member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, will make a cameo during Thursday night’s performance. Ty Keough, a former U.S. Men’s National Team player, Washington University in St. Louis head coach, and MLS broadcaster, will appear on Friday and Saturday night, while current St. Louis CITY SC midfielder and former Saint Louis University standout John Klein will stand in during Saturday’s show. Bill “Mr. Soccer” McDermott will have a role in all three shows—as will the Fleur De Noise supporters’ group.
Courtesy Phillip Hamer Photography
On Saturday, the first 300 guests to arrive for the show will be given a wristband to attend a watch party at CITYPARK for that night’s St. Louis CITY SC match at Houston. Fleur De Noise will lead the group from the performance to the Moneta Pitch Club, where fans can grab food and order drinks at a cash bar while watching the game.
The setting
A stage has been erected on 22nd, between Olive and Locust—directly across from the northwest corner of CITYPARK. Each show is free to attend, and guests may bring outside food and drink to enjoy during the performance. STL Barkeep will also be on site selling wine, cocktails, and Schlafly Beer.
Chairs and bleacher seating will be available on a first come, first served basis, and guests can bring their own chairs.
Shakespeare in the Streets: The Game's Afoot runs Thursday through Saturday. Shows start at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
