Theater: Straight Flush

In 2008, the Gay Softball World Series came to Seattle and caused quite a stir.

No, not that kind. Hardly anyone raised an eyebrow at the prospect of 200 gay softball teams descending on the region.

It was the straight softball players who caused heartburn. Or, more accurately, the ones perceived to be straight. During the championship game, one team accused the other of having too many heterosexual players. The rules stated that each team could have no more than two straight players on its roster.

A tribunal straight out of The Scarlet Letter ensued. Three players were disqualified. The team deemed to have too many heteros was stripped of its second-place trophy. A lawsuit resulted. Three years later, the suspended players, who said they were bisexual, won an undisclosed settlement from the sponsoring organization, and the aggrieved team finally got its second-place trophy.

Even better: The whole bizarre story inspired Ana Brown and Andrew Russell to write the play John Baxter Is a Switch Hitter, which is having its world premiere during the Intiman Theatre Festival.

Featuring a cast of 18, John Baxter offers up what Intiman describes as a comic, modern-day witch hunt that skewers social convention as well as the notion that gayness can be measured statistically like hits, runs and errors.

Russell, who is artistic director of the Intiman Theatre Festival, says he and Brown thought the story was a perfect candidate for the Seattle stage. He adds, Ana and I primarily want to entertain and provoke audiences with this big new American play, which lives a bit in the tone of A League of Their Own and The Crucible. Imagine it!

John Baxter Is a Switch Hitter
Through 9/27. Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center,
201 Mercer St.; 206.441.7178; intiman.org.