Theater Review: Rounding Third

SARASOTA – The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the theatre world, which has made Florida Studio Theatre's triumphant summer season return an even more welcome event. FST is closing out the run with Richard Dresser's Rounding Third, a light-hearted, well-executed comedy that's the perfect fare for the dog days of August.

Rounding Third deftly mines the world of youth sports coaching for relatable laughs the whole family can enjoy. Don and Michael are an oddball pairing of volunteer Little League Baseball coaches who each have their hands full with the problems of life. Don is the quintessential youth sports coach who takes his role and the sport itself far more seriously than those around him, including his son, a pitcher on the team. Michael knows little about baseball but is trying to use the experience as a way to connect with his stepson, who shows little potential for the sport.

Don is the kind of smartly-written character from which Dresser can extract tons of comedic mileage, and Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper plays him to the nines. The result is a larger-than-life character from which even tired old tropes and oft-used gags can be retreaded to delightful effect. Timothy C. Goodwin turns in a solid performance as the bookish Michael, and the two actors' on-stage chemistry lays claim to much of the production's success.

"As much as any sport is merely a game, a person's reasons for investing so deeply in something–regardless of how unimportant it may seem to someone else–are often much more recognizable than you see at first glance," said Mongiardo-Cooper. "Don and Michael engage our imaginations and inspire us to think about what might lead a person to need a game this badly."

Rounding Third runs through August 29. Visit the FST website for ticket information.