Shawn (Glenn Davis, left) and Matt (Chris Perfetti) meet up at Matt’s mother’s shop, Armand’s, in Rajiv Joseph’s King James.
Sports, friendship and Lebron James are central to Rajiv Joseph’s play King James. The renowned basketball player, known by the epithet of the title, brings two unlikely sports fanatics together to form a long-term bond that surpasses a ball game.
Matt (Chris Perfetti) and Shawn (Glenn Davis) are die-hard Cleveland Cavaliers fans. Matt finds himself in need of fast cash after a bad investment. Although he has a bartending job, he has recently been cut off from his parents’ assistance with his debts because of his previous bad deals; instead, they give him season tickets to home games. Matt’s father, in ill health, can’t use them, and they suggest that Matt sell the tickets to raise the money to pay off his creditors.
Meanwhile, Shawn has just published his first story and is looking to reward himself with the ticket package Matt is selling. They meet at the bar (artfully designed by Todd Rosenthal, along with Matt’s mother’s home in Act II), where Matt explains to Shawn the exact content of the ticket package he is selling:
Shawn examines the basketball season tickets he is about to buy from Matt.
The Cavs have 19 home games left this season. … Which means I have two tickets to every one of them .... You could scalp that pair alone and make half your money back. So for these remaining 19 home games, I want sixty-five hundred. Which is a deal.”
At first, Matt refuses to accept Shawn’s offer as too low, but, beyond the money he needs, he is looking for someone who will appreciate the tickets. When the negotiating begins, Matt and Shawn start to get to know each other. They connect on their love for basketball, which provides them an outlet to escape from the reality of their lives. Ultimately, Matt accepts Shawn’s offer, and their joint attendance at the games marks the start of a complicated friendship.
Under the direction of Kenny Leon, Chris Perfetti and Glenn Davis give slam-dunk performances. They jell well and skillfully encapsulate the personas of two men in an adult friendship. Their trajectory of their friendship is not smooth, but most relationships aren’t. Yet resentments build after Lebron decides to leave Cleveland, as does Shawn. He is set to attend graduate school in New York City. This, along with Lebron’s news, surprises and saddens Matt:
Matt: When you live in Cleveland, I guess, the grass really is always greener.
Shawn: That’s not the takeaway here. …
Matt: But it kinda is. I can’t blame anyone. Small market, here. Cleveland. If you want to maximize your potential, you gotta skip town.
Shawn: Dude, come on, that’s not...
Matt: He’s doing the right thing. Everyone’s angry. Everyone hates him for it. But he’s doing the right thing. We all should all be trying to do what he’s doing. We should all put ourselves in the best position to succeed.
The play follows the ups and downs of their friendship in the following years. After Shawn returns to Cleveland, their friendship starts to be strained. Issues of race and financial support come between them, as Shawn prepares to move to Los Angeles. Joseph’s script does an excellent job of focusing on the universality and camaraderie of sports fans and friends. Upon Shawn’s return, Matt has become a successful entrepreneur. Although he was initially upset at Shawn’s departure, he wants to see him succeed so he financially supports his good friend’s trip to L.A., but then they have differing views on Lebron’s return to Cleveland. Shawn is ecstatic, while Matt refuses to give in to the excitement. But there is also psychological depth, as when Shawn accuses Matt of selfish tendencies and suggests that, although he is being generous, he enjoys the fact that Shawn is indebted to him.
Matt and Shawn hang out in La Cave du Vin, the bar where Matt works. Photographs by Craig Schwartz Photography.
When they reunite two years later, their lives have changed again. The Cavaliers have won the championship, Shawn is writing for television, Matt’s mom is getting married and selling the shop, Matt has lost his business and is working on the store’s liquidation. Shawn has come back to attend the celebratory parade for the Cavaliers. He wants Matt at his side—and maybe a shot at reconciliation. They slowly return to bantering about sports and life. However, the words help less than a good old game of paper basketball this time. The unspoken language in the moves is what these two friends need. It appears they have slowly started making amends and maybe a parade is in their future.
Underneath their relationship lies a genuine partnership, centered on sports but much more profound. As Matt says, “for me it’s never been about LeBron. It’s about going sitting there together.”
Rajiv Joseph’s King James runs through June 18 at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center. Evening performances are at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; matinees are at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and information, visit manhattantheatreclub.com or nycitycenter.org/pdps/2022-2023/king-james.
Playwright: Rajiv Joseph
Direction: Kenny Leon
Sets: Todd Rosenthal
Costumes: Samantha C. Jones
Lighting: Lee Fiskness
Sound: Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen
