Pictured (L-R): Barry Nash (Tim Donovan) and Bryan Pitts (Gerald Carter) in Kitchen Dog Theater’s ‘Safe at Home.’ (Photo by Piper Pena Hadley)

Kitchen Dog Theater kicked off its new season Thursday night with the baseball drama Safe at Home. The thing is the company’s home stage is under construction. What a perfect time (and place) to stage a baseball play at a baseball field. In immersive fashion, the play, written by Gabriel Greene and Alex Levy, took place across Riders Field in Frisco from second story suites to the players’ dugout which resulted in a captivating experience.

The play centered on San Diego Padres player Victor Castillo who is rumored to make a political statement on the mound during game 7 of the World Series. As the rumor grows, the talk grows from the press room to political figures, coaches and umpires as they prepare for the game which starts within the hour. Directed by Jack Reuler, the play moves from site to site with a compelling climax.

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The audience was broken up into groups by color and then a tour leader took us to the first scene as we followed (and were followed) by other groups. The remarkable tidbit about this show was that each actor and character only served one scene but over and over. So while the show’s run is just four days through Sunday, they are technically performing at least five shows per night.

The first few scenes set up the motion with Jamal Sterling opening the drama as the team’s manager holding a press conference. He convincingly created a full room of press (the audience) as he performed his monologue where he was asked the question about Castillo’s possible protest by reporter Alejandra. Next we moved to meet Victoria Angelina Cruz as Alejandra who delivered a tough performance as a new reporter in this scene standing up for herself against team owner Phyllis, played with intimidating flair by Lana K. Hoover.

Subsequently, a scene with political leaders was a bit confusing. The volleying of information was a bit of overload and while it hinted at high stakes, the scene didn’t echo through the rest of the show nor did it make a lot of sense.

After the first three sites though is when the drama ramps up into a political thriller. The play moved from the neutral suites area into a vendor station where two vendors argue over products to sell and culture; the mens bathroom where one Padres fan, played frantically by Lee George, tried in earnest to convince his friend Mike, played by an energetic Matt Lyle, to not wear the opposing team’s colors and a staging area (?) where two mascots duked it out.

These sites where more compelling even if the exposition sort of stalled here. The play works on building up the anticipation of Castillo’s choice who doesn’t appear until the end. Before that, we entered the dugout where umpire Gerald has a heated discussion with Tim, a Major League Baseball higher-up. Actors Bryan Pitts and Barry Nash were compelling and taut as they argued about race and politics within the sport. The emotions here set the exciting pace for the remaining scenes.

Jovane Caamano’s performance as pitching coach Ramon Gonzalez was startling as his character reached deep into his own pain. His play off Bill Hass’ character Angelo Baker was electric but also heartbreaking and the two served up ideal chemistry.

For the final scene – not really spoiling anything here – Ryan Michael Friedman finally appeared as Victor Castillo. He played the conflicted player with such impassioned heat. He embodied the character supremely that his impression felt like he had been in the entire show. Perhaps in a way, he was as a cloud hovering over every other scene. But he took full advantage of his one scene and the payoff was worth it.

The cast also included Brandy McClendon Kae, Jennifer Kuenzer and Rosaura Cruz, Omar Padilla and Whitney Holotik and Andres Carbonell with understudy Jim Kuenzer.

For the story, often times it was hard to realize the character’s roles or titles which led to questions about the conversation happening. The dialogue commands attention or you will miss vital info Additionally, one character introduced late was a bit baffling because there’s zero mention of them earlier nor do they have anything to do with the team. This muddled the drama somewhat, but each actor’s performance throughout were quite faultless.

Walking through the ballpark added to the drama but also gave it an air of excitment. You will do a lot of walking which isn’t do dissuade anyone – just be aware that a lot of steps and stairs are involved. The slight camaraderie in the group was an bonus. With the story being as dramatic as it was, we had a needlessly perky tour guide. The show was laced with racial tension, slurs and heavy politics only to be taken out of it by the rattling off of random baseball facts and information not related to the story. They were efficient in getting us place to place and setting up the scenes, but there was no sense that anything offered inbetween tied the scenes together and while I love a plucky demeanor, it took away from the presence of the dramatic flair.

Safe at Home overall was a thrilling on many levels and Kitchen Dog Theater did  – wait for it – hit a home run with a strong cast and clever staging . This was the play’s second only professional production and was seemingly written to take place on a field (the premiere took place in Tempe’s Diablo Stadium also directed by Reuler). The immersion served the story probably far better than a proscenium stage ever could and with KDT’s team – er cast – the play was a winner.

Safe at Home runs through Sunday.

–Rich Lopez