ALTADENA — As a part of its Centennial Year Celebration, the First Presbyterian Church, Altadena presents “One Way or Another,” an in-worship drama about two former Pasadena City College baseball players, Shig Takayama and Jackie Robinson, as they pushed up against the stubborn “whites only” barriers of the 1930s.
This short play highlights the friendship of these two young men, one Japanese American and the other African American, who grew up in same Pasadena neighborhood. The play offers insights into the motivations that might have supported their perseverance in standing up to the racial discrimination they faced as collegiate baseball players.
The drama draws upon each of their affiliations with a local church — Robinson with Scott United Methodist Church, and Takayama with the Japanese Union Church, now the First Presbyterian Church, Altadena. Based both on written history and on the “living history” provided by the testimonies of those who knew Takayama and Robinson, the play witnesses to how faith and spiritual strength influenced these two young men, both on and off the athletic field.
The play will be performed at the First Presbyterian Church, 2775 Lincoln Ave., Altadena on Sunday, April 14, at the 10:30 a.m. worship service. All in attendance are invited to join the congregation for a Ballpark Franks picnic on the church patio and lawn after the service.
For more information on the church, visit www.altadenapresbyterian.org/.