By SHARON EBERSON
Today I learned that pickleball means never having to say you’re sorry. So, in that spirit, I am definitely not sorry that I went to see the Jeff Daniels-penned Pickleball at Little Lake Theatre.
I took along a good friend, also named Jeff, who plays pickleball almost daily, and charged him with accounting for the play’s accuracy. His nonstop laughter told me all I needed to know.
Pickleball’s dinks and bangers aside, this madcap satire of the fastest-growing game in America serves as an endless vessel for sports obsession, skewed socialization, aches and pains, triumphs and catastrophes, with each measurable in seismic proportions.
The sporting atmosphere begins the moment you take your seat. All the stage is a pickleball court, and the sounds of the game are all around, complemented by hanging sections of chain link, dotted with stuck pickleballs. Displaying my ignorance of the game, my first thought was that they looked exactly like tennis balls. But as any pickleball player will tell you, “This is not tennis!,” and regulation pickleballs are slightly larger than that other sport.
Although pickleball is often portrayed as being just for the AARP set, it takes very little digging to find that its popularity extends across demographics, from 20somethings to senior citizens.
However, if you don’t know what “the kitchen” is, as it pertains to the court, no need to say you’re sorry. The characters in Pickleball, the play, represent what could easily be an outrageous version of someone you might find in any sport — specifically, people whose dedication borders on the monomaniacal.
A prime example is the feared and admired Apex Expert. This arrogant champion, here a queen bee who goes by the name Perfect, is perfectly embodied by the strutting Maddie Kocur, who demands other players “kiss my ring.” Kocur, outfitted in white and sporting the attitude of a Eurovision pop star, displays an intimidating physicality that leaves her lessers cowering in her wake.
Often heard before he is seen, there’s the ill-tempered screamer known as “Angry John” (Gordon Robertson, in a dual role). On the sidelines is Sheldon (Ted Froats), who suffers an injury when his partner, Spike (Darrin Mosley Jr.) poaches a shot. Froats’ Sheldon makes his aches palpable, and seems to have the healthiest attitude toward the sport and his fellow players.
Spike, meanwhile, has given his life to the game, and holds a coveted 3.0 ranking. He reveals this in much the same way a Harvard graduate might say their degree is summa cum laude, and pull out a diploma to prove it.
A running gag begins with Spike excoriating Sheldon for the derogatory use of the word “schmuck” (“It’s Yiddish for penis!”), even though Sheldon has aimed the term at himself.
Other levels of being pickleball-crazed are raised by dedicated playing partners Billie (Amanda Weber) and Larry (Cole Vecchio). He’s there mostly to meet women; she is here to live up to the expectations of her late wife, a stronger player who died on the court.
Billie is constantly reminded that she is a former tennis player — “I lettered as a sophomore!” — which doesn’t cut it on the pickleball court. She has tried to quit the game but can’t, and will tell you, loudly, that she wants to play for the fun of it.
One of the most telling exchanges about their competitive sides comes when Larry asks Billie if he might offer “a tip” about how to improve her game, and she stops in her tracks, eyes ablaze, and accepts — then responds in kind.
The escalating series of outlandish behavior and how-bonkers-can-you-get humor includes a tale of the Dalai Lama imparting his knowledge of a pickleball secret weapon.
Jeff — my pickleball-playing friend, and not the aforementioned award-winning actor and playwright Jeff Daniels — reminded me of Bill Murray’s Dalai Lama speech in Caddyshack, perhaps an inspiration from another comedy satirizing a popular sport.
The ongoing antics lead to mimed pickleball action, a musical number, and a championship match that rockets the play way outside the boundaries of the court, and beyond.
Little Lake’s production of the fast-paced romp is directed by Michael Patrick Trimm, who co-starred in the grounded basketball drama King James for City Theatre. The production takes the script’s biting satire and runs with it, aided by a game cast, and lighting (Nicole White) and sound (Anthony Del Grosso) that focus the chaotic spirit at play.
Amid the schmuck jokes, outlandish behavior and general insanity, Pickleball attempts to reveal the players’ underlying humanity, and the lurking dangers of letting their obsessions be their guiding light.
As someone who didn’t know a lot about the game going in — including that “sorry” really is a no-no — I found myself laughing and wanting to know more. For players who nod knowingly at the words “spinning your dink,” there may be more to Pickleball than there is for the rest of us.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pickleball at Little Lake Theatre in Canonsburg runs through June 14, 2026. The show is recommended for ages 13+. Tickets: Visit https://us.patronbase.com/_LittleLakeTheatre/Productions/165/Performances.
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