BY TYLER DALE, OPINIONS EDITOR

Editor’s Note: The Tofu is intended to be a humorous column with fake content. No quotes or names attributed reflect the actual opinions of people in the article. 

Spring semester is here and hat means: baseball.  It’s time for peanuts, cracker jacks, sunburn, yelling at umpires and very questionable ballpark hot dogs.

This baseball season will be unlike any other in Piedmont history, though, because it marks the beginning of a collaboration between the athletic and theatre departments to produce shows that appeal to fans of both sports and the arts.

Together, the baseball team and the department of theatre will be producing a stage musical version of the film “Fever Pitch” starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore.

The film is being adapted to the stage by John Spiegel, professor of theatre, and the music is being composed by music department chair Wallace Hinson.

For those who haven’t seen the film, “Fever Pitch” is the story of Ben, played by Fallon, a goofy, yet good-hearted schoolteacher who has an unhealthy obsession with the Boston Red Sox.

He meets a strong-headed, career-minded woman named Lindsay, played by Barrymore, and is forced to choose between her and the team.

In Piedmont’s production, Ben and Lindsay are being played by freshmen theatre majors Brandon Deen and Kristen Reeves and the Boston Red Sox are being played by the Piedmont Lions baseball team.

Peeples is also very optimistic about the new fans that the collaboration will bring into the stadium once they see how exciting baseball can be when music and choreography are added to it.

The theatre faculty are equally excited to bring a fresh set of audience members into the Swanson Center Mainstage. They’ve even hired an umpire to stand in the lobby so that fans can hurl insults at him as they walk into the theater.

When asked why he chose the baseball team, and subsequently, “Fever Pitch,” Spiegel stated “Well, we tried to do this last year. We wanted to do ‘Space Jam’ with the basketball team, but that didn’t quite work out.

So we settled on baseball, and ‘Fever Pitch’ was the natural choice. We’re still working on adapting it to the stage, but the script was so solid it made the entire process seamless,” said Spiegel.

Sports fanatics and theatre enthusiasts alike, rejoice. Now you can enjoy the best of both worlds right here at Piedmont.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll sing along with instant classics such as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “I forgot the White Sox Existed,” and “I Don’t Actually Know Anything About Baseball, So Here’s a Tap Number.”

But most importantly, you’ll witness the blending of two vastly different cultures into one really awkward production.

The show will run Feb. 13-16 on the Swanson Mainstage and will last approximately 90 minutes. See you there!