Everybody’s Hero: The Jackie Robinson Story

An inspirational story of a brave man’s struggle for equality.

4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 19

When summer began in 1947, television was new, the sound barrier had not been broken and baseball was a white man’s game. By the fall, all that had changed. President Truman addressed the nation for the first time on TV, Chuck Yeager flew faster than any man ever had, and Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play major league baseball. It was no accident that Jackie Robinson was chosen to break the color barrier. There were plenty of good athletes in the Negro Leagues — some maybe even better than Jackie. But when Branch Rickey decided to add a black person to the Brooklyn Dodgers, he knew that individual had to be special.

He had to be strong enough to stand up to the teammates who would ridicule him, the pitchers who would throw at him and the fans who would threaten him. He had to be able to turn the other cheek, to show that he was the bigger man and to prove that he could be everybody’s hero. This new play with music by Mad River Theater Works shows the events that shaped Jackie Robinson’s character, his struggle to gain acceptance and the tremendous obstacles he overcame on his way to changing the face of our nation and our national pastime. An inspirational story of a brave man’s struggle for equality.

Warning: Recommended for age 8 and up.