Lindenwood Magazine - Spring / Summer 2019

UTHOR AND LINDENWOOD ALUMNA MARTHA ACKMANN (’73) will see her acclaimed book Curveball come to life in the Off-Broadway play Toni Stone this spring and summer. The play will be produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Harold and Mirian Steinberg Center’s Laura Pels Theater in New York City. Toni Stone was the first female professional baseball player in the Negro Leagues. The play will star Obie Award winner April Matthis in the title role and is scheduled to open June 20 with preview performances beginning May 23. Ackmann released Curveball eight years ago. After seeing the book featured on ESPN, producer Samantha Barrie contacted Ackmann’s agent about adapting Curveball for the stage. Later, Ackmann and Barrie met in New York and agreed to pursue the project together. “It is important to choose a person with the same artistic vision as you,” said Ackmann. Toni Stone is directed by Tony Award-winning director Pam MacKinnon and written by Lydia R. Diamond. Ackmann said she has enjoyed working with Diamond. “This is my first collaboration with a playwright, and Lydia has been open and generous,” said Ackmann. She said she is enjoying seeing her book visualized for the stage. “I’m just delighted!” she said. “The experience has been positive, and Lydia is taking the story into a new realm. It has been quite wonderful. It is the first all-female baseball production for the American stage.” Many plays have begun in an Off-Broadway setting and made the transition to Broadway theaters. There are hopes that Toni Stone will do the same. In the meantime, the play has been added to the 2019-20 seasons for the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and D.C. Metro Theater Arts Arena Stage. “Off-Broadway simply means the size of the theater,” Ackmann said. “We are in the heart of Times Square. This is actually our first run to see if the audience likes it, and our hope is that it will do well.” Ackmann, who graduated in 1973 with a double major in English and communication arts, has another iron in the fire as well. Her book The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight has been optioned as an event miniseries and is currently in development with Bradley Whitford ( The West Wing ) for Amazon. Liz Hannah, who wrote the film The Post , will write the script for The Mercury 13 . The book tells the true story of the 13 women who trained as astronauts alongside the men for the Mercury 7 mission in 1961 but were let go from the program despite completing the same training. “( Mercury 13 ) has been a long time coming as well,” Ackmann said. “I have been very happy that Brad and his team are moving it forward. He has the kind of vision I’m looking for that aligns with the story.” Ackmann recently finished a new book about poet Emily Dickinson titled These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson , which was at this writing scheduled for release by W.W. Norton in April 2020 for National Poetry Month. Her newest project is a book about country music legend Dolly Parton. n Official theatre poster for the Broadway production of Toni Stone A SPRING/SUMMER 2019 | 3 BROADWAY BOUND Ackmann Book Adapted for the Stage Two of Ackmann’s books, The Mercury 13 and Curveball, have been adapted for other entertainment media. “I’m just delighted! The experience has been positive... It is the first all-female baseball production for the American stage. MARTHA ACKMANN ” Lindenwood University REAL SUCCESS LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY