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. "Glove Story" was selected to the 2014 DC Black Theatre Festival in Washington, DC, and staged in a full production in 2019 by Panndora Productions in Long Beach, CA. First 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 is an Emmy-nominated television producer, film and TV writer, playwright and novelist. His debut novel "AMP'D," published by St. Martin's Press, was a Los Angeles Times best seller and a runner-up for the 2017 Thurber Prize for American Humor. His original sci-fi graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics, "Colonus," won the Geekie Award for Best Comic Book and has been collected in a trade paperback. With a background in sports, including Sports Illustrated magazine and TV coverage of two Olympics, Ken has used that arena to tell stories both large and small that reflect the human condition. 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. Ken's script adaptation for a true sports biopic, "Two Ton Tony," won Best Screenplay at the 2012 Garden State Film Festival. Ken also traveled to Africa to research a feature screenplay about the Rwandan cycling team, co-written with David Seidler ("The King's Speech"). Ken is currently working on a variety of projects for film and television, including a a new novel, and the TV adaptation of his Los Angeles Times best-selling novel "AMP'D" for Muse Entertainment. Follow: @kpsmartypants Visit: www.kenpisani.com