Beyond the Stage: Soccer, Stage, and the Stories We Tell

In Red Pitch, three teenagers fight to hold onto friendship, identity, and their neighborhood—on and off the soccer pitch. Playwright Tyrell Williams uses the rhythms of the game to capture the urgency of gentrification, belonging, and growing up.

To deepen the conversation, we welcome scholar Jared Robert Strange, author of After Bend It Like Beckham: Soccer in 21st-Century Theatre and Performance. Strange explores how soccer on stage is more than a backdrop—it’s a powerful language of community, aspiration, and struggle. From The Wolves to Red Pitch, his work shows how theater transforms “the beautiful game” into a way of grappling with issues of race, power, and identity.

Join us as we talk with Jared about why soccer resonates so deeply in performance, and how Red Pitch stands in a growing tradition of plays that turn sport into a stage for the most urgent stories of our time.