by Joanne Engelhardt

Hillbarn Theater’s artistic director Steve Muterspaugh must have been over-the-moon happy to acquire the rights to produce “Pickleball,” a little-known 2022 comedy written by actor Jeff Daniels.

That’s because pickleball is reputedly the fastest-growing sport in the country, with hundreds of thousands of pickleball players in the Bay Area alone.  (Fun fact: California has 2.3 million pickleball players, which means nearly six percent of California’s population plays pickleball.)

This was evident at the opening performance of “Pickleball,” when Muterspaugh asked audience members to raise their hands if they play. About two-thirds did. He sussed out more and more information about their pickleball prowess. About the same number raised their hands to report playing pickleball in the past week. And nearly all the same hands were raised when he asked if they had played that very day. He even quantified how many of them had played one, two, three, four, or even five hours.

Two hands remained raised for the five-hour question. Their confession earned them some free goodies from the snack bar.

So while the majority of the opening night audience laughed at nearly everything happening onstage, this non-pickleball player found the play silly, repetitive,  and quite often boring.

“Pickleball” started out interesting enough, with a woman’s voice pleading twice from a second-story window: “Can you please just stop for five minutes so I can settle my baby to sleep?” But the pound, pound, pound of the pickleball continues without mercy.

Enter someone identified as “Perfect” (Imri Tate) dressed all in pink—including, of course, a pink pickleball paddle.  They move quickly around the stage, eyes darting, then just as quickly run off.

Eventually, three other pickleballers show up, chatting away and talking about their last game together.  Their fourth player, Sheldon (Chris Reber), hobbles in, clearly in a lot of pain, and sits down on a nearby chair. The foursome talks about their last game, playfully arguing about dinks. A dink, according to AI, is  “…a soft, controlled shot that lands in the opponent’s non-volley zone, also known as the ‘kitchen’.” It’s designed to force the opponent to hit upward, making it difficult for them to aggressively respond. This is presumably fascinating to the right audience.

Sheldon tells his friends that while he was playing with them, he blew out both of his butt muscles (apparently, that’s a thing). Larry (Erin Gould), Spike (Will Livingston), and Billie (Rebecca Schweitzer) commiserate with him, although Spike thinks he might be overacting to gain their sympathy.  Schweitzer seems to have difficulty staying with one accent. At times, she sounds Dutch or German. Later, she throws in a bit of da Bronx. She even manages to sound British at times.

Director Marissa Keltie obviously belongs to the school of overacting because nearly the entire cast exaggerates their words, their movements, and their expressions to the point that they seem cartoonish, with each actor trying to outdo the others.

The sixth character, Ralph (Rich Matli), is onstage for such a brief time that it was difficult to figure out his role, exactly. But with his heavy beard and angry expression, it must be assumed he was supposed to be the “bad guy.”

Remember Perfect, the person dressed all in pink?  They return multiple times, always angry, always charging around the court, checking out the pickleball foursome, then charging off into the wings. They’re clearly a force to be reckoned with, wearing pink sneakers, pink beads in their dreadlocks, and, of course, that previously mentioned pink pickleball paddle.  But exactly who they are and why they’re so angry is never explained.

They return at play’s end, in tandem with Ralph, and move in slow motion. Both now wear all-white costumes, because they apparently have died and this is supposed to make them look angelic or, at least, ethereal.

Costume designer Lisa Claybaugh does a terrific job coming up with some highly colorful, at times sensual, costumes—not to mention the flashy pickleball paddles used in the play. Apparently, pickleballers love their paddles to stand out, often going to great lengths to find one that is unique among its fellows.

Muterspaugh is also the scenic designer for the show. The set looked authentic, other than the too-tall portions of a chain-link fence that the actors moved around here and there from scene to scene.  (A question: Wouldn’t it have made more sense to use the typical net used on a pickleball or tennis court?) It also seems odd that there’s a giant basket of pickleballs onstage, yet no one ever picks one up to hit.

Jeff Mockus’s sound design worked fine, as did Pamila Gray’s lighting.

With the vast number of pickleball players in the Bay Area, there’s no doubt that Hillbarn will likely have many sold-out shows between now and Sept. 13, when the run ends.  In summary, as pickleball players would say: “Nice get!”

But here’s a suggestion for non-pickleballers:  Skip the show and enjoy a relaxing walk in the sunshine instead.

“Pickleball” plays at Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City through September 13, 2026. For further information, click here.
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Rating:  *1/2  (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“Pickleball” by Jeff Daniels. Produced by Hillbarn Theatre. Director: Marissa Keltie. Lighting Designer: Pamila Gray. Sound Designer: Jeff Mockus. Scenic Designer: Steve Muterspaugh. Costume Designer: Lisa Claybaugh. Intimacy Director: Maya Herbsman. Stage Manager: David Issel. Master Electrician: Chris Beer. Scenic Artist: Courtney Middleditch-Morgan. Scenic Artist: Chris Beer. Master Carpenter: Eric Olson. Carpenter: Nicholas Conrad. Production Assistant: Jonah Buon. Interim Production Manager: Rebecca Voss.

Cast:

Larry: Erin Gould. Spike: Will Livingston. Ralph: Rich Matli. Sheldon: Chris Reber. Billie: Rebecca Schweitzer. Perfect: Imri Tate.