VAN LINGLE MUNGO - TOES THE MOUND FOR SIX MORE STARTS IN JUNE OF '17

MUNGO!

He was a man who once boxed with Ernest Hemingway, struck out Babe Ruth and created an international incident when one of his nighttime “amours” came fully equipped with a jealous husband and a squadron of rifle-wielding Cuban Federales.
He threw hard and drank even harder, cutting a wide, colorful swath through the barrooms, boudoirs and baseball diamonds of the 1930s. He was Van Lingle Mungo—pitcher/fighter/cad/husband/father and one of the most memorable characters in Major League baseball history.

And now, from the Great Beyond, he is determined to tell his own version of the truth in MUNGO!, a one-man show that opens in June of 2017 as part of the 8th Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Written by James Harmon Brown and Marc Peter Reyna, directed by George Lockwood and performed by Reyna the play will transport us back to baseball during the Great Depression, channeling Mungo’s rise from the sandlots of South Carolina to the Polo Grounds in New York City, pausing in between to chronicle the personal and professional highs and lows of a world-class character and semi-great pitcher.

Each year Van returns from the Great Beyond to Goob’s Bar&Grill in his home town of Pageland, South Carolina to swap a few tall tales, tell some baseball stories, set the record straight about his life and times and to search for Eloise, the one true love of his life. He figures if he tells his story often enough—and truthfully enough—she’ll come back to him.

Maybe this will be the year.

MUNGO! is premiering at The Complex Theater beginning with a preview performance, Saturday, June 3 at 3:00 p.m. in the Shepard Studio Theater. Fringe Opening Night performance is Thursday, June 8 at 7 p.m. in the Ruby Theater with four additional performances; Saturday June 17 at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday June 18 at 1 p.m.; Wednesday June 21 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday June 24 at 5 p.m., at the Shepard Studio.

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks will be available on request. Booing and cheering is optional but you should be warned that Van has a temper. But he promises to show y’all a good time. Guaranteed!

Tickets are available online at www.hollywoodfringe.org/3617 and at The Complex box office at 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90033