Batters' Uppers

Getting caught in the bathroom stall with a friend, a syringe and your pants down is usually pretty embarrassing. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco's meetings in the Oakland A's clubhouse were no exception, but they also came to define an entire era in sports. (And how the hell did they both fit in there, anyway? Are there handicapped stalls in major league clubhouses?) Now, thanks to playwright Itamar Moses, the two sluggers' juicing sessions are the first notable bathroom tryst to inspire a work of theater (take that, Larry Craig). Back Back Back tackles the moral dilemmas facing athletes in the steroids era, with characters based on the Bash Brothers duo. With its title and its moralizing, the play harks back to a simpler time when steroids were still a novelty, and Chris Berman was still best-known for his signature home run call, not the YouTube footage of his rants about crossing the border to score Canadian downers. It's popular lately to blame the Rangers' steroid culture for leading A-Rod to the juice, but let's not forget how it all began. It's about time that stall in Oakland got its due. Director Hal Brooks enhances this production, which runs at the Dallas Theater Center, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., through April 15. For tickets, call 214-522-8499 or visit dallastheatercenter.org.
Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 & 7:30 p.m. Starts: March 17. Continues through April 5, 2009