''King James'' is a play written by

Rajiv Joseph Rajiv Joseph (born June 16, 1974) is an American playwright. He was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play ''Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo'', and he won an Obie Award for Best New American Play for his play ''Descri ...

, which premiered in March 2022 at the

Steppenwolf Theatre Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on H ...

in Chicago, under the direction of

Kenny Leon Kenny Leon is an American director, producer, actor, and author, notable for his work on Broadway, on television, and in regional theater. In 2014, he won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for ''A Raisin in the Sun''. Career He gaine ...

. The play's action is launched when two characters meet: Matt (

Chris Perfetti Chris Perfetti (born December 12, 1988) is an American actor. He currently portrays Jacob Hill on the ABC comedy ''Abbott Elementary'', for which he was nominated for a Critics' Choice Award. His other roles include Tim Fletch on the NBC series ...

), a Cleveland bartender with Cavaliers tickets he needs to sell, and Shawn ( Glenn Davis), a writer who has recently published a short story and wants to buy tickets for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

2003–2004 season – the first season with

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

playing.

Development

Rajiv Joseph began to write the play in 2017, motivated to "preserve some of the experience of following and cheering" for LeBron James. "Rajiv's first draft had a lot of basketball in it," according to Glenn Davis, who is a long-term friend of Rajiv Joseph, but "as each new draft came in, the specifics about basketball began to disappear because Rajiv wanted to make sure this play was about friendship." The play, a co-production of the Steppenwolf and the

Center Theatre Group Center Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and th ...

in Los Angeles was originally scheduled for production during their 2019–2020 seasons. The premiere was delayed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, until March 13, 2022 in Chicago and June 1, 2022 in Los Angeles. Rajiv Joseph, Glenn Davis and Kenny Leon, who is directing at Steppenwolf for the first time, are all longtime basketball aficionados, but not so much for Chris Perfetti. This added depth to the play's development at Steppenwolf as being both about and not about basketball – about how sports helps to bring people together. As Rajiv Joseph said to Sarah Bahr of the ''New York Times'': "Sometimes a love of the game is the only way people who have difficulty expressing their feelings are able to articulate them."

Synopsis

The play's drama derives from the ups and downs of Matt's and Shawn's friendship, the ebbs and flows of their two careers, and the comings and goings of LeBron James. The play's four scenes take place at the time of Matt's and Shawn's initial meeting during the 2003–2004 season, six and one half years later at the time of "''The Decision''", when James announced he was abandoning Cleveland for Miami, in 2014, when James returned to Cleveland, and in 2016, the end of Cleveland's championship drought.

Critical reception

A number of reviewers comment on the balance between two aspects of the play: its deep dive into basketball, and its portrayal of communication between sports fans. In his ''Sun-Times'' review, Steven Oxman wrote that the play has "brisk and witty dialogue" but that some attendees might expect more "thematic darkness or sociopolitical-aesthetic-spiritual contemplation," given Rajiv Joseph's earlier plays. Joey Morona suggested that the assumed level of basketball know-how may be overly esoteric for those who are not Cleveland sports fans. Chris Jones, of ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', emphasized that the play is essentially about friendship, saying that it "tells a very moving, accessible and openhearted story of two friends." He also suggested that the audience's hunger for more basketball content might be met "in future drafts by amping up the LeBron and other NBA content"! Barbara Vitello of suburban Chicago's ''

Daily Herald Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' stressed the primacy that communication and friendship play, with all the ups and downs, in the dramatic arc of the piece. Nancy Bishop described it, in Third Coast Review, as "a buddy play in the best sense of that term" and suggests that people unfamiliar with the arcana of basketball might want to "get educated with a lot of basketball" before going. Bishop, Vitello and Oxman all praised the enhancement of the "pre-game" and the "half-time" music by DJ Khloe Janel. Sheri Flanders of ''

The Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' noted the Steppenwolf costume design by Samantha C. Jones as well as

Todd Rosenthal Todd Rosenthal is an American scenic designer. He won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design and the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's '' August: Osage County''. A native of Longmeadow, Massachus ...

's highly detailed scenic design.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , title=Cleveland native Rajiv Joseph's LeBron James-inspired play 'King James' premieres in Chicago , url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/03/cleveland-native-rajiv-josephs-lebron-james-inspired-play-king-james-premieres-in-chicago.html , access-date=2022-03-23 , first=Joey , last=Morona, website=

cleveland.com ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

, date=March 4, 2022 {{cite news , title=The LeBron James drama off the court: 'King James,' at long last, has its tipoff time , url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-03-09/lebron-james-play-king-james-rajiv-joseph , access-date=2022-03-30 , first=Lisa , last=Fung , publisher=

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

, date=March 9, 2022 {{cite news , title=LeBron Fandom, and the Making of a Friendship in 'King James' , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/theater/king-james-play-chicago-steppenwolf.html , access-date=2022-03-22 , first=Sarah , last=Bahr , work=

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, date=March 10, 2022 {{cite news , title=Steppenwolf's amusing take on basketball bros, a one-on-one worth watching , url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/3/14/22977377/king-james-review-steppenwolf-theatre-chicago-lebron-cavaliers-chris-perfetti-glenn-davis-kenny-leon , access-date=2022-03-17 , first=Steven , last=Oxman , publisher=

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

, date=March 14, 2022 {{cite news , title=In 'King James' at Steppenwolf Theatre, the love of LeBron James brings Cleveland friends together , url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-king-james-steppenwolf-theatre-review-20220314-4utpcs532vcj3ksiadu3bisiyi-story.html , access-date=2022-03-16 , first=Chris , last=Jones , publisher=

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, date=March 14, 2022 {{cite web , title='King James' is an entertaining new play that speaks to the experience of being a Cleveland sports fan , url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/03/king-james-is-an-entertaining-new-play-that-speaks-to-the-experience-of-being-a-cleveland-sports-fan.html , access-date=2022-03-23 , first=Joey , last=Morona , website=

, date=March 16, 2022 {{cite news , title=King James explores basketball and male bonding , url=https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/theater-review/king-james-explores-basketball-and-male-bonding/ , access-date=2022-03-23 , first=Sheri , last=Flanders , publisher=

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

, date=March 16, 2022 {{cite web , title=At Steppenwolf Theatre, ''King James'' Is All About Friendship, Heartbreak and Basketball , url=https://thirdcoastreview.com/2022/03/17/review-steppenwolf-king-james/ , access-date=2022-03-28 , first=Nancy S. , last=Bishop , publisher=3rd Coast Review , website=thirdcoastreview.com , date=March 17, 2022 {{cite news , title=Steppenwolf's 'King James' delivers powerful message on friendship , url=https://www.dailyherald.com/entlife/20220318/steppenwolfs-king-james-delivers-powerful-message-on-friendship , access-date=2022-03-26 , first=Barbara , last=Vitello , publisher=

, date=March 18, 2022 {{cite news , title=Artist profiles – Khloe Janel , url=https://www.steppenwolf.org/artists/khloe-janel/ , access-date=2022-03-26 , publisher=

, date=March 2022 {{cite news , title=LeBron mania informs a tale of friendship in Rajiv Joseph's 'King James' at the Taper , url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-06-09/review-rajiv-josephs-new-drama-king-james-mark-taper-forum , access-date=2022-12-14 , first=Charles , last=McNulty , author-link=Charles McNulty , publisher=

, date=June 9, 2022

External links

King James at Steppenwolf.org
2022 plays American plays Cleveland in fiction Plays set in Ohio Plays set in the 2000s Plays set in the 2010s