Former Iowan writes show about six-on-six basketball

A former Iowan is back with a theatrical show that’s probably unique in the history of drama…and sports. Robert Ford has written a stage musical about girls six-on-six basketball. It’s a tribute to the game, he says, and to the people involved, from the girls who played, to the coaches and colorful commentators. Ford says it’s also a history of the sport and of the controversy that ended the game. Ford says about fifteen years ago, while girls’ teams were still playing the game in Iowa, he got the idea to write a musical about the popular sport. It was a sort of fictional look at what might happen if six-on-six basketball ever came to and end, and how people might react…and then, as he was writing up his first draft, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union decided to end it, in 1993. To his surprise, the scenario he’d been trying to write had come true. Instead of inspiring him, that gave Ford some doubts. He put his play aside for a while, thinking with the game no longer played there might not be as much interest. But he says lately there’s been a lot of nostalgia lately and more focus on the game, as girls’ teams prepare to play their last tournament at Vets Auditorium in Des Moines. “It’s time for a new generation that didn’t grow up with the game to learn about it,” Ford says. He says there’s a lot of interest about it, so this just happened to be the right time. He’d been working with a theatre group in San Diego for about 16 years, and held the first readings of his play there. He wasn’t sure what the reaction would be, since people weren’t familiar with the game. About the half his audience turned out not only to know about the game, but had played it at some time in their life. The other half were amazed at the unique game played only in Iowa. He decided he’d have to stage it back home in Iowa, where people could really relate to it. The final version of the musical by Fort Dodge native Robert Ford includes seventeen songs, and it’ll open onstage Thursday (February 24) in Fort Dodge. Curious Iowans can get tickets at the website, http://sixonsix.com/production.html