Asterisk concerns four likable North Jersey joes who meet for an afternoon of baseball, beer, and general "regular guyness" — though it doesn't take long for deeper issues to surface. Tom Diriwachter's script shows a fine ear for the way men communicate with each other in small groups, and its anti-Yankees, pro-Mets sentiments are both goodhearted and spiritually correct.
The occasion is no ordinary game. A fictional slugger named King is one home run away from setting the single-season record, and the four friends, who plan to attend the next game in person, fantasize about catching the record-breaking ball and selling it for big dollars. Hotheaded Vin (Dean Negri) is the irritant of the group; while the others are inclined to share the hypothetical profits, he pushes hard for a catcher-takes-all approach, amid much belching and carrying on. The scene occasionally shifts from the living room to the broadcasters' booth, where a trio of slick announcers offers play-by-play and color commentary on the game.
The classic male-bonding ritual of watching televised sports creates an emotional safety zone in which these characters are free to express their various woes. Sykes (Lou Mastantuono, in an utterly convincing, low-key performance) is recently divorced; Phil (Johnny T. Sollitto) has marital and sexual issues; Ralph (Artie Ray) has just lost his father. The potential for Robert Bly-style drumbeating is clearly there, but Diriwachter avoids emotional epiphanies in favor of tentative, small-scale victories.
Director Jason Grant elicits authentic, naturalistic performances from the cast and handles this unpretentious material without any undue fuss. The writing and directorial pacing go a bit slack in the second half, as if mimicking the increasingly beer-addled sluggishness of the characters; Diriwachter has frontloaded his script with conflict, leaving it with relatively little to do toward the end but cover the same territory in a less focused way. Still, by that point we're invested enough in the trials of these essentially decent men to forgive a slightly draggy seventh inning.
Presented by March Forth Productions in association with Tower Athletics at the American Theatre of Actors, 314 W. 54th St., NYC. June 9-24. Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.