Pat Flaherty and Jason Platt in "The Winning Streak"Lee Blessing's The Winning Streak, currently at Davenport's Nighswander Theatre, is one of those shows that could easily read better than it plays.

This two-man comedy-drama concerns an estranged father and son who tentatively bond during the late-season rally of a struggling Midwestern baseball team; over the course of seven scenes, Omar (Pat Flaherty) and Ry (Jason Platt) squabble, reach an impasse, and begin squabbling again.

"There's something about being in a live theatre," says St. Ambrose University Professor of Theatre Corinne Johnson, "and experiencing that moment with the actors and, maybe more importantly, with the audience.

How wonderful and humbling the last eight months have been.