The most haunting character in “Headstrong” isn’t onstage. He’s Ronnie, a 35-year-old ex-football player who killed himself after sustaining head injuries while playing in the NFL.
His fate is the linchpin of this new play by Patrick Link, presented by Ensemble Studio Theatre as part of its admirable Sloan Project, which fosters new works with scientific themes.
But while this drama has an agenda — namely, to spread awareness of the debilitating mental ailments caused by head injuries endemic to the sport — it has an organic feel often missing from such issue plays.
It begins with a researcher’s visit to the home of Ronnie’s father-in-law, former NFL great Duncan Troy (Ron Canada). Nick Merritt (Alexander Gemignani), investigating the link between head injuries and the early deaths of pro football players, asks Ronnie’s widow, Sylvia (Nedra McClyde), for permission to examine her husband’s brain. But her father insists he’ll succeed only in destroying the sport.
Their heated debate forms the heart of the play. “Five years of football for 30 years of dementia?” Nick says. “That’s not a fair trade.”
Meanwhile, Nick’s Caribbean-born boss (Tim Cain) can’t understand our football obsession. “Why don’t people play it?” he asks about soccer, the game he grew up with. “It’s a fun game.”
Well-acted and incisively directed by William Carden, “Headstrong” boasts strong characters and pungently funny dialogue. A chilling final twist suggests that the problems facing this tragedy-plagued household are far from over.