It was an unusual matchup on the basketball court of University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym. Team members weren’t players, but actors. The opponent wasn’t another team, but future audiences’ incredulity. The occasion was rehearsal for American Conservatory Theater’s “The Great Leap,” about an exhibition basketball game between a San Francisco squad and a Beijing team. Could the cast learn enough of the sport’s moves and physicality to look passably like serious players and coaches? And all in the length of a rehearsal period instead of a lifetime’s worth of practice?
Thankfully, cast members BD Wong, Arye Gross, Tim Liu and Ruibo Qian had Frank Allocco on hand.