Kirby

It hasn't been that long since Kirby Puckett's painful public fall from grace and sudden death, not long enough to erase the sting from learning that such an apparently uncomplicated public hero was beset by the same sorts of demons and frailties that afflict us all. Writer Syl Jones tackles Puckett's story, an intersection of race, fame, money, and professional sports that contains sufficient highs and lows to be a potential classic. Ansa Akyea plays the fireplug outfielder, and he's an actor who always elicits audience compassion for the roles he tackles. Not that it will be hard to sympathize with Kirby Puckett: His last years (and this play) compel us to try to understand the man he was rather than the two-dimensional smiling slugger everyone involved was complicit in creating.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Oct. 5. Continues through Nov. 4, 2007