While the rise of pickleball as a sport has been well-chronicled, its big brother in the athletics field also needs attention, and one Santa Monica local has an audacious plan for this goal. This weekend, the Reed Park Tennis Courts will play host to the wild world of Bimbo Tennis: The Play, a love letter to the sport and recreational opportunities in the area. The play is directed by Madeleine Woolner, who was approached with the idea by Santa Monica’s own Emma Gardner, who wrote the script with Reed Park in mind.
The "theater in the round" concept will be served up on the courts, as actors playing the fictional Cherries Valley tennis team and their opposition representing pickleball enthusiasts will all be maneuvering throughout the courts during the Thursday-Sunday performances. The innovative play idea is a full-circle moment for Gardner, who played tennis at Reed Park growing up while also taking in performances like the Shakespeare classic Much Ado About Nothing at the unique theater locale.
Never having done site-specific theater before, the concept was something that has always intrigued Gardner, who formerly graced the stage herself at Lincoln Middle School and Samohi. Pairing her script with Woolner’s direction, the two set out to ace the production.
"As this was kind of coming together, I was looking at the court [and] we were initially thinking about using the bleachers [at Reed] and then we realized, no, we want people actually on the court," Gardner said. "I just kind of had this vision that I want this to feel like courtside at a Laker game, except you’re on a tennis court and you’re watching theater."
In their limited rehearsals so far, Woolner has credited the talented actors (including Xavier Lewis starring as "emotionally dysregulated nepo-baby" Andressen Marcus) for having the physical wherewithal to take in blocking notes. The production has been a chaotic joy for the director, who hopes the local audience will share in her passion for the theater experience.
"People [post-pandemic] and living in this very digital age are so hungry for real-life experiences that you can’t get on your phone or on your screen, and so having [this] full evening experience where people can come and have a drink and socialize and have face-to-face interaction with others … there just seems to be such an appetite for it right now," Woolner said.
The impetus for a tennis-based comedic romp comes from Gardner’s own experience running a "bimbo tennis" league at Griffith Park, a place where female players can take part in the fashion and camaraderie of the sport rather than their abilities alone. In searching for ideas for messages to the league’s group chat, Gardner found theater scripts based on tennis in a political context.
Her play recognizes tennis as an established form of recreation and self-regulation, with the upstart pickleball representing a capitalistic takeover of court spaces. Her own "aggressive interaction" with pickleball players at Memorial Park also inspired the piece, feeling a "cult-like mentality" from those she thought felt entitled to the space.
"I’m pro-recreation, whatever gets people outside and having community, I love," Gardner said. "However, the insistence on destroying tennis courts has always rubbed me the wrong way, and it hasn’t made sense to me. It doesn’t really square with an ethos of wanting everybody to do recreation."
She added that the amount of tennis players has also increased in recent years, but the rise hasn’t been as glorified as the one of pickleball. Despite the play being a pro-tennis statement, she says pickleball players are not her "enemies," and that the production is more a statement on individualism and free thought in a corporate world that suppresses emotion.
"I want everyone to enjoy recreation," Gardner added. "I’m sure a lot of [pickleball players] are great people, and I want them to come see the show and tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m stupid, tell me my ideas are ridiculous. But ultimately, I just want to foster dialogue between these two sides."
The dialogue will be furthered with two tennis showcases as a pre-show, with Friday night featuring a doubles match with former Samohi coaches and current players, and Sunday bringing in high-ranked junior players from Toluca Lake. Gardner added that more playwrights should aspire to create more unique productions that people want to see and feel live.
"I would love to empower playwrights and creatives as much as possible … do as much as big as you can, and as long as you have the right people, everything will happen," Gardner said.
Locals are buying into the vision, as Thursday night’s opening performance at Reed is already sold out. To get tickets for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows beginning at 7:30pm, visit Eventbrite and search "Bimbo Tennis."
