Toni Stone Star April Matthis on Learning about Baseball with a Pro & More

Obie Winner April Matthis is currently bringing the real-life story of Toni Stone to light in off-Broadway's Toni Stone. Stone was the first female to play professional baseball, and as the titular character, Matthis has fully immersed herself into the world of the story. "I wasn't much of a baseball fan," Matthis said to Beth Stevens in a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive. "I got to interact with second baseman Robinson Canó of the Mets. He taught me where your left foot goes and how to move my shoulders. We don't play a full game with real bats and balls because all it takes is one person to get clocked in the face with a hard ball. Being in his presence and have him teach me was inspiring. I went to the batting cages at Chelsea Piers a few times and I got better. It was so helpful in being able to tell the story."

Not only did Matthis have to learn the movement of baseball, but she also had to learn the stats. "[Toni Stone] quotes baseball stats of Negro Leagues players that she would have known at the time" Matthis said. "We call it perseverating, which is similar to self-soothing and can be something people on the autism spectrum do. We don't have a diagnosis for Toni Stone, but there were anecdotal stories of her being like a baseball encyclopedia. Playwright Lydia Diamond dramatized it so when Toni gets in moments of crisis she rattles off these stats as something that is concrete that she loves."

"I really like playwrights and language and questioning what theater is," Matthis said about her long career originating roles in downtown theater. "I love new plays by living playwrights that are pushing theatricality. I like highly intellectual, esoteric crazy stuff." 

While Matthis' resume is full of serious roles, her first stage experience wasn't so familiar. "I grew up in a small town in Texas and nobody was acting around me," she said. "My last year at school I took a performance studies class that was cross-referenced with women's studies and it was like performance art. From there I was encouraged to audition for community theater production of A Tale of Two Cities. I was cast in the role of bloodthirsty man and the rest is history."

Be sure to catch Matthis in Toni Stone, playing at the Laura Pels Theatre through August 11.

Watch the full #LiveAtFive interview below.