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Carpenter Square Theater has opened its new season with Rajiv Joseph’s King James, a compact drama that follows two friends whose lives revolve around their devotion to basketball and to LeBron James. The production landed with a visible response from Oklahoma City audiences, underlining why a play about fandom feels timely now.
Director Lilli Bassett said opening night captured a wide range of reactions: laughter, sudden gasps and sustained applause as the crowd followed the play’s references to the sport. Local Thunder supporters, she noted, recognized many of the moments onstage and responded like a home crowd at a game.
A dozen years of fandom, seen through friendship
King James centers on two Cleveland men, Matt and Sean, tracking their bond over roughly 12 years of highs and disappointments tied to one player’s career. The story moves through familiar milestones — the early promise of a rookie, the fallout when a star leaves, the return, and the emotional peak of the 2016 finals — while keeping the focus on how friendship and loyalty are tested by sport.
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The roles are played by Olin Cox and Michael Deshaun, whom Bassett described as anchors of the production. The staging keeps basketball language and culture at the fore but uses those details to illuminate character rather than to stage a game.
What audiences will take away
Bassett emphasized that the play speaks beyond die-hard fans. Moments of shared disappointment and, later, elation are framed in intimate scenes rather than spectacle. She pointed out a small, unscripted-feeling gesture between the characters near the end that she found especially moving.
- Emotional range: Humorous exchanges and quiet grief sit side by side.
- Familiar beats: The play references key public moments — from a player’s departure to the comeback and the decisive Game 7 2016.
- Accessibility: Non-basketball viewers can follow the human story; fans will recognize and appreciate the finer details.
- Local resonance: Oklahoma City audiences may find echoes of their own history as sports fans woven into the narrative.
Not all scenes carry the same weight; some stretches are quick and comic, others deliberate and quiet. That uneven tempo is part of the design, anchoring the play in lived experience rather than melodrama.
King James is presented as part of Carpenter Square Theater’s season in downtown Oklahoma City. The production places a national figure at the center of a small, character-driven story, asking how public sports moments ripple through private lives and friendships.
