Michigan Premiere Play HALFTIME WITH DON At Tipping Point Theatre

Tipping Point Theatre's (TPT) 17th theatrical season continues on January 22, 2025, with the Michigan premiere production of Ken Weitzman's Halftime with Don.

Retired NFL player Don Devers experiences both jocular and violent outbursts as a result of his struggles with traumatic brain injury. While relying on Post-it notes to get him through the day, Ed Ryan, a desperate longtime fan, shows up on his doorstep. Thus begins a new-found game with Don's pregnant daughter Stephanie, and Ed's pregnant wife Sarah, plotting from the sidelines. The hero, the fan, and the expectant mothers discover new ways to help each other and create a new family of sorts. An emotional rollercoaster, the play is as moody, funny and unpredictable as its football star. “This is a moving piece of work, and you don't have to be a sports fan to be moved” (thefrontrowcenter.com). Halftime With Don was an audience favorite during TPT's In The Works reading series.

"This play started brewing over a decade ago, the moment I read about the discovery of CTE, the progressive, degenerative disease of the brain they've been finding in deceased football players” states the play's writer, Ken Weitzman. “I started to research and track many former (and current) NFL players decimated, body and mind, at startlingly young ages. I had coffee with one former NFL player who told me he sleeps in his recliner chair every night because he can't physically get in and out of his bed. That became the image I started with and from there the character of Don came to life. By inhabiting him, a man of God-like strength who now struggles to get through the day, a storm of emotions kicked up inside me: from shock, to horror, to great admiration, to love. It's my hope audiences feel all these things, along with the great humor and charm the character possesses that makes those around him love him so."

Echoing similar reaction to the play's subject matter and tone, Director Bill Simmons states that “there's a lot of love in Halftime with Don. Love of football hangs over all of it, but the play has subtle moments of love in almost every scene—even those not about football. Halftime with Don is also suffused with love of family and the making of family. Yes, babies are part of it, but Halftime with Don also is about four people who come together to make a new kind of family.”

Simmons continues – “I'm delighted to be back in Michigan making theatre. My home is Indianapolis, but I used to be a resident artist at the Purple Rose Theatre Company. I met some of my favorite theatre artists while working at the Rose, and a few of them are involved in this production. It means a lot to me to bring my friend Ken's play to life with the Tipping Point team of artists.”

Allen Neuner of Out in New Jersey Magazine recalls his trip to the theatre, reflecting that “one of the perks of writing theater reviews is that on rare occasions, one is privileged to watch the birth of a powerful new drama. Such a drama is Halftime with Don.”

Halftime with Don contains mature language and adult themes.

Single tickets for Halftime with Don are available for purchase by visiting www.tippingpointtheatre.com, or by calling the Ticket Office at 248.347.0003. Discounts for seniors (62 and over), military and students are available at the Box Office window located inside Tipping Point Theatre at 361 East Cady Street, Northville, MI 48167. Discounts for groups of 10+ are available for purchase by calling the Box Office at 248.347.0003 or at the Ticket Office window.

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