Glove Story

"Glove Story" is an original play, a finalist for the 2005 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and the 2009 Julie Harris Playwrights Award. Performed in a staged reading at the Stella Adler Theatre in Los Angeles by Ed Asner and Sy Richardson, “Glove Story” is a “Sunshine Boys”-like look at two (fictional) aging boxers who battled each other in the 1950s and early ’60s against the backdrop of a changing nation and the Civil Rights movement.

“Irish” Jimmy Morgan and Sandy “Sandman” Johnson are retired middleweight champions who fought a legendary trilogy in the 1950s and early ’60s. “Irish” Jimmy won the middleweight crown from “the Sandman” in 1956, losing the title back in their 1958 rematch. Both times, Johnson found himself distracted by events in Montgomery and Little Rock; and when he retired for good after their 1963 draw to join the Civil Rights movement, “Irish” Jimmy never forgave him for refusing one final bout that would mark a definitive end to their rivalry. Now in their seventies, “Irish” Jimmy finds himself down on his luck and in failing health, while “Sandman” Johnson enjoys adulation as a Civil Rights icon. But things aren’t exactly as they appear, and when they find themselves reluctantly reunited in the present by a young female sportswriter, their stewing animosity erupts to hilarious and ultimately poignant effect.

KEN PISANI lives in Los Angeles and writes comedy for television, something that's not always evident by the time it airs. With a background in sports, including Sports Illustrated magazine and two Olympics, Ken has used that arena to tell stories both large and small that reflect the human condition and feature lots of sweating. His documentary short film “War Games,” narrated by Academy Award-winner Jack Palance, told the story of the forgotten P.O.W. Olympics of World War II and won the Silver Award at the WorldFest International Film Festival; his original adaptation of that true story, “Teodor’s Fire,” was named one of four finalists for the IFP Screenwriters Award. Oddly, no one is rushing to make this movie. Most recently, Ken’s script adaptation for a true sports biopic, “Two Ton Tony,” another feature nobody in Hollywood wants to make, won Best Screenplay at the 2012 Garden State Film Festival. Ken has earned two Emmy nominations, a Silver Telly Award, and has been a winner or finalist in numerous writing competitions, including The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Julie Harris Playwright Award, Slamdance and Scriptapalooza. Ken is also a published fiction author; his original short story “My Brother Died and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt,” was published in the U.S. and U.K. in the anthology “More Tonto Short Stories 2007.” His writing has also appeared in numerous online publications including Stymie Magazine, Defenestration, Flashfiction.com, and Carve Magazine, dedicated to the writing of Raymond Carver. Ken is also a former stand-up comic, cartoonist, and unpublished novelist. He is currently working on a variety of film and television projects, including a feature adaptation of “Two Ton Tony” (visit: www2tontony.com).