Old Stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I had a new and pleasant experience when attended the first ever public reading of a play at a repertory theater in Houston. The reason I went was a play written by Larry Dierker.


I have been following Dierker's career since he broke into the major leagues with the Astros on who it is 18th birthday, back in 1965. He was a top quality pitcher for many years. Following his retirement from the game he went to the broadcast booth and became a color analyst. And in a very unusual move, he was hired to be the manager of the Astros though he had no managerial experience at all. The team flourished under his leadership and reached the playoffs five of his seven years he served as the manager. Larry was a writer for the local paper when he was a broadcaster and has written a couple of books since his managerial days have finished.

But to the great surprise of many of us Dierker has written the lyrics and the play called Old Stories. He has worked with composer Paul English, who wrote the music for the play.

The play is about a mythical team in the National League called the Washington Capitols. The setting is the 1970 season, he character is Arthur "King" Cole. Cole is a super star, but approaching the end of his career. The drama around the changes this makes in his professional and personal life is the crux of the play.

The manager of the Capitols is a former player, who was on a pennant winning team 21 years earlier. Three of his old buddies and former teammates like to tell Old Stories and remember the good old days.

The play really appealed to me, perhaps because of where I am in life. I like to tell old stories and keep alive the things that matter to me and shaped me. As the play unfolds, each of the old guys gets to share an old story with a current player and give him some advice.

The joy of the play is that the old stories gain new life in the telling to the next generation and in seeing that they make a difference to the ones following in their footsteps.

There are 13 original numbers, with a wide variety of styles of music incorporated. Larry was like a proud poppa when the show was over. I was able to congratulate him and get him to autograph my single sheet playbill.

I hope Old Stories gets backing to become a full blown stage presentation, but I know for sure that I am going to continue to tell old stories!

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