Our Greatest Year

One day at the end of the 2007 season, Cleveland ex-pats Robert Attenweiler and Scott Henkle found themselves in New York City, bemoaning another round of “close but no cigar” performances by the Indians, Browns, and Cavs. “But you never know,” Attenweiler recalls saying tongue in cheek. “This could go down as our greatest year.” Out of that simple observation — and a bone-deep understanding of what it means to be a Cleveland sports fan — came a work of art: Our Greatest Year, a play that examines love, loss, and the first year in a young couple’s marriage through the lens of our local sports teams. Attenweiler describes the show, which debuted last June as part of Brooklyn’s Comic Book Theater Festival, as a mix of traditional stagecraft and Henkle’s animated motion comics. According to The New York Times, the play proved to be the highpoint of the film fest: “an oasis of psychological complexity,” which “buoyed the festival, albeit in a melancholy way.” Both guys say the play also serves as tip of the hat to Cleveland legend, Harvey Pekar. “We owe an enormous debt to Pekar,” says Henkle. “The slice-of-life storyline is very much in keeping with Harvey’s work. He freed up comic book writers to talk about the personal stuff.” This weekend, Attenweiler and Henkle are bringing it all back home, hosting three performances of Our Greatest Year at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights. (Thursday’s performance is already sold out, but tickets remain for Friday and Saturday.) “We figured if a New York audience could get behind a story of Cleveland’s suffering, maybe Cleveland would like it even better,” chuckles Attenweiler, who shares writing credit with Henkle, a fellow John Carroll University grad. Reprising their roles from 2011 are Eric Slater as the young husband Harvey, Rebecca Benhayon as his wife Elton, director Anna Brenner, and animator Jay Tekus. Joining the writers after Friday's show for a talkback session is Cleveland native Scott Raab, a fellow sports sufferer and author of The Whore of Akron: One Man’s Search for the Soul of LeBron James. Should be a fun night. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 on the website.