Paul Teresi got an idea for a play he wrote by watching a baseball game.

The 2006 “Crosstown Showdown” between the Cubs and the White Sox sparked the idea for “Crosstown.”

“I got the idea for “Crosstown” while watching the 2006 Cubs/White Sox brawl”,” said Teresi, a senior history major. “I was surrounded by Cub and Sox fans going crazy, and I got the biggest laugh out of it. I knew this would make a great story.”

“Crosstown” is scheduled to be performed at the 7th Street Underground at 7 p.m. April 11 and 12 and at 2 p.m. April 13.

Teresi secured 7th St. Underground by turning a schedule of 12 different proposed dates to the scheduling office. He eventually received permission to perform his play there.

“This is a student production, so I had to get, like, 12 different availabilities and try to develop a rehearsal schedule where it all molded together,” he said. “So far, we’ve done a decent job at that.”

“Crosstown” takes place at Eastern and focuses on Rick and Sammi, the two main characters.

Rick, played by Teresi, is a diehard Cubs fan, and Sammi, played by Caitlin Carroll, is a diehard Sox fan.

“The two have dated on and off since 2000 and have broken up three times,” Teresi said. “All 3 breakups took place during the postseasons.”

The play starts in June 2008 and, once again, the Crosstown Showdown returns to Chicago. Despite the baseball backstory, Teresi describes the play as romantic fun.

“When Rick and Sammi try to figure out if they still have feelings for one another, a few things stand in their way: old secrets, hurtful lies, forgotten gifts, angry ex’s, crazy blind dates – and Crosstown rivalry,” Teresi said.

Teresi has been working on “Crosstown” for a year and a half. He said he used his friends as inspiration for the parts in the play.

“At one point in the play, we hang out at the ‘south side house’,” Teresi said. “The south side house is based off my friends’ house because they’re all Sox fans from the south side of Chicago.”

“Crosstowns'” other actors are enjoying the experience of performing.

Erica Jones plays Julie, a girl that goes on a blind date.

“Julie and I are alike, but she is way more extreme than I am,” said Jones, a junior family and consumer sciences major. “I enjoy playing Julie because I get to play someone else every day.”

Orion Buckingham plays the television/radio announcer and a baseball player in the Cubs/Sox pickup game. Buckingham said he can relate to the tv/radio announcer he portrays in “Crosstown” because he is a color analyst for Charleston Football on Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU and for Eastern baseball.

“My character from the baseball is just like me. I played baseball for 10 years,” Buckingham said. “Looking back over footage, I see my strange little mannerisms coming through in that character.”

In keeping with the baseball theme, the play will have an intermission and “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung at the beginning.

“This is a very innovative production because were trying so many things that haven’t been done before,” Teresi said. “To put it quite simply, our goal is to make a big comedy that the whole campus can enjoy.”

Other characters:

Jimmy, played by Tim Tholl

Amanda, played by Katie Rufener

How he got people involved:

Teresi posted fliers and typed “Theater” and “Acting” into the Eastern Facebook search engine. He sent out messages about the play and plot containing audition times.

Ashley Mefford can be reached at 581-7942 or at almefford@eiu.edu .

Actors featured in the upcoming play ‘Crosstown’ sport their costumes for the performance. (Submitted Photo from Paul Teresi. Photo Illustration bt Nora Maberry/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)