Three Seconds in the Key: Four Stars * * * *

 

In the hands of an actor with less chutzpah than Amy Resnick, 'Three Seconds in the Key' might seem like any other play that contains the New York Knicks, a woman dying of cancer, a black athlete learning Yiddish and a major role for an eight year old. But Deb Margolin's story of a woman struggling with Hodgkin's Disease, desperate to survive long enough to raise her sports-mad son, is so clever and heartfelt, and Resnick is so good and so funny, that together they manage to pull out a victory at the buzzer and win our hearts at the same time.

Mother (yes, that seems to be her only name, played by Resnick) and her eight year old son (played by Gideon Lazarus) have seen her disease restrict their lives to a small apartment with a small TV, on which they watch New York Knicks basketball games. It's a season when
their beloved Knicks can't win for losing, and, seemingly, neither can the hard luck Mom and boy, until…well this is where the fun starts, and it's not easy to explain. We get God, preachers, basketball, parenting, living, dying, winning and losing, but we also get basketball as a metaphor for life, and beautiful moments between Mother and Player Number 1 (a tense and touching performance by D. Anthony Harper).

SF Playhouse's temporary home on the third floor of the Shelton Theater has a very small stage with two large support columns, which forces the cast into some strange basketball moves. But it's a Technical Foul, not a fatal flaw. Rather than hinder, the tight quarters enhance the intimacy of the story.

Don't expect to understand everything, and don't be upset if all the loose ends don't tie up neatly. Just know this: on Opening Night Deb Margolin and her now teenage son were in the second row. Since 'Three Seconds in the Key' is the author's true story, it's nice to know that life, as well as theater, can have happy endings.

The Great Plotnik Theater Awards Division awards 'Three Seconds in the Key' Four Stars, flat out. They might have earned another quarter if Artistic Director Bill English hadn't missed that left handed layup during the cast's standing ovation at the end. Three Seconds in the Key scores big.