Folks in Illinois who want to see an Old Man in A Baseball Cap have two options. Head to Chicago's Wrigley Field and comb the bleachers, or go to the Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Sept. 17-18. You're better off doing the second, because you'll be catching Fred Rochlin's acclaimed solo, Old Man in a Baseball Cap, covering his life as a World War II fighter pilot.
Young "Rockets" was stationed in Italy and at one point had to parachute from his bomber into enemy territory. The 400-kilometer, 31-day trek saw Rochlin developing a relationship with his local guide, who yearns for a rich American husband. Another true sequence recalls Rockets delivering a baby by Caesarean section only hours before being given orders to bomb a Hungarian village that was, mistakenly, thought to be a military target.
The 74-year-old Rochlin has already performed Baseball Cap at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Flying Solo Festival and Sacramento's B Street Theatre.
For tickets ($20-$25) to Old Man in a Baseball Cap at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, call (847) 673-6300. The performances will benefit Northlight's Open Door Ensemble, in which 30 "older adults" participate in acting and writing workshops and performances.
-- By David Lefkowitz