Shakespeare loves his foreshadowing, but he has nothing on Benjamin Hochman.
In 1998, while a student at Clayton High School, Hochman wrote a play called The Franchise. It was a madcap tale of a baseball expansion team in Salt Lake City, Utah and its megalomaniacal owner, featuring characters inspired by Morganna, the Kissing Bandit and Norm Peterson of Cheers fame. Hochman, too, made a cameo as Arthur Fonzarelli. It was what you might expect from the high school senior he was at the time. But it was also a portent.
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Twenty-five years later, in a turn of events that perhaps only Shakespeare could have foreseen, Hochman is once again a playwright. This time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist is penning a script inspired by The Bard, himself.
As part of the events surrounding this year’s St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Hochman has been tapped to bring his passion for local sports to the stage in the form of a play that celebrates soccer’s appeal both globally and throughout the region. Soccer in St. Louis will have a run on a stage overlooking CITYPARK on September 14–16 as part of the free, annual Shakespeare in the Streets series. Hochman’s work will attach local soccer lore to an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Henriad, incorporating memories and triumphs of St. Louis soccer stars, players, and fans.
That’s the neat thing about soccer’s roots in St. Louis. They’re generational in scope—almost Shakespearean, in a way. Maybe your dad played soccer—and your grandfather before that. Perhaps a different family member was involved in the game generations ago. Although St. Louis has flirted with several incarnations of professional soccer over the past century, St. Louis CITY SC’s debut in Major League Soccer heralds the region’s arrival on the sport’s grandest stage in North America. It almost feels predestined that an area with so many long-held soccer traditions and memories would enjoy such an auspicious beginning as CITY’s performance in its first few games.
“Everybody’s got some sort of story, whether it’s being on the field, or being in the stands, or being at the Amsterdam Tavern,” Hochman says.
And Hochman wants to incorporate pieces of those stories where he can. Hochman and director Adam Flores are seeking memories from local soccer fans and players at all levels that speak to the sport’s enduring impact and ability to connect people of all backgrounds.
“We’ve interviewed everyone from Lori Chalupny, who’s from St. Louis and won a World Cup in 2015, to some 70-year-old guy that plays in a rec league at night,” Hochman says. “Everybody’s got a way to show how soccer has affected their lives, and we’re gathering these stories. Not every story we gather will be in the play, but the more people we talk to, the more tidbits we get and the more references we find out about. During the course of the play, the idea is to make references to things that soccer fans from different parts of town will smile about.”
In his career, Hochman has spent countless hours writing about and analyzing the endless drama of sports. With this project, he’s tapping into other inspirations, too. Shakespeare, obviously, has provided a template for Hochman’s story, but he’s also drawing on more modern works, such as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Miranda’s play shows that you can meld both classic and modern subject matter together, as well as incorporate clever turns of phrase and alliteration to give a script even more impact. As he’s gotten started, Hochman finds himself asking questions like: What would Miranda do in this situation? (That doesn’t include starring in his own play, like Miranda did. But Hochman wouldn’t rule out a cameo.)
As the region rallies around the new home team, Hochman is also inspired by the spirit that the city is bringing to CITY’s debut season. The deep-rooted enthusiasm and excitement he’s seen is helping him connect the timelessness of Shakespeare with the timeliness of soccer in St. Louis.
“This is the year of soccer in St. Louis,” Hochman says. “St. Louis is a city that’s proud of its own stuff. From ravioli that’s fried to gooey butter cake to Nelly and Chingy and what have you. Soccer is our thing and this is our year. There’s just so much momentum with soccer in St. Louis right now, and I’m excited to tap into that and do my own little part by putting together a play that pays homage to the soccer community this September.”
To learn more about Shakespeare in the Streets: Soccer in St. Louis and share your own soccer memories, visit the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s website.
