Going to bat.(Roaming Spotlight)(Going Gone)(Brief Article)

American Theatre, January, 2004 by Citron, Nicole

CINCINNATI, OHIO: Long before playwright Karen Hartman (in photo) was born, the voice of her grandfather Harry Hartman blared "Going, Going, Gone!" from radios around the city, as balls hit by the Cincinnati Reds--or their opponents--arced into the stands. Now, in a new play that takes the phrase he coined (minus one "going") as its title, Hartman follows the rise and fall of her grandfather's career as a radio announcer, as well as the internal lives of his family--who, she explains, grew up with a father "present as a voice but not present physically." Going Gone, Hartman says, deals with schisms, especially that between body and voice: At 300 pounds, Harry Hartman was a major league sportscaster who couldn't even run one base. Harry and his wife, who immigrated...

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