'Dawg Pounded' opens Aug. 8 at Cleveland's Playhouse Square

Scripting a Cleveland Browns season isn’t possible. If a playwright sketched out events like “The Drive,” “The Fumble,” “Red Right 88,” or the countless other unbelievable and heartbreaking stories Browns fans have

actually suffered through, the ideas would seem so farfetched they’d be scoffed at.

Playwright and life-long Browns fan Tim Tyler knows this. The tragic comedy that is the Browns already exists, but his play “Dawg Pounded” offers humorous therapy in the form of two die-hard fans who cope with the ups and downs of a typical Browns season.

“It’s the roller coaster ride we go through every year,” Tyler said. “But it’s wrapped up in a package of hope and optimism that one day, it will all be worth it.”

“Dawg Pounded” runs Fridays and Saturdays from Aug. 8 to Sept. 6 at Kennedy’s Theater at Playhouse Square in Cleveland.

Tyler briefly chatted about his upcoming production as well as some of the torment Ohioans share as Browns backers.

Q. So how did the idea come about to do a Browns-themed production?

A. “I was on a three hour flight to Colorado to see a buddy, and I took a notepad with me. I said I was gonna write all three hours whatever came to mind. A guy on the plane started talking about the Browns, so I came up with these characters who were Browns fans, Paul and Otto, and then I came up with another character, Pittsburgh Pete, to taunt them. I just ran with the whole concept from that.

Q. The Browns have such a history of ridiculousness on and off the field, was it hard to narrow down the subject matter?

A. “I had to limit it. I structured it like a typical season. We start out with great expectations, then those are dashed. Then we accept the ultimate fate that we’re not going to make the playoffs. Then we get good for a while to get our hopes up just to have them dashed again, and by the end of the season we’re looking ahead to the draft! I couldn’t squeeze everything in as far as specific scenes go, but sometimes the characters will refer to the things I had to leave out, like ‘We’re the only team with an injured offensive lineman ’cause the referee hit him in the eye with his penalty flag!’ ”

Q. Who stars in the play, and how did you go about casting it?

A. “I take my work to the Cleveland Public Theater, and they sort of have an open mic for playwrights. From the actors there I had a reading. I cast Greg Mandrake as Otto. In the auditions, I had one guy, Tom Hill, who was so enthusiastic about the play, but he was in Hawaii. So we Skyped his audition and he knocked it out of the park. He plays Paul. Don Jones, who belongs to the Canton Players Guild, plays Pittsburgh Pete. I originally thought we’d only have two singers, but the people we got were so good we ended up with five or six.”

Q. From one fellow Browns fan to another, why do we keep doing this to ourselves by following this team?

A. “(Laughs) Well in my case, I’m sticking with this until the end now! It’s become a point of honor. I’m not giving up. I’ve went all the way with this team, and grew up with them as my team. If I don’t see them win a Super Bowl, that’s fine, but I’m not gonna jump ship and root for someone else now.”

Q. Does one Browns moment stand out as more heart-wrenching than the others? We’ve got a lot to choose from!

A. “I was at ‘The Drive.’ The Broncos return man fumbled the kickoff and fell on the ball at the 2-yard-line. There was five minutes to go, they had 98 yards to cover, and we were up by a touchdown. I turned to my buddy and said, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl!’ Talk about eating your words!”

Q. For me it was the 2002 playoff game against the Steelers, where (backup QB) Kelly Holcolmb threw for all those yards and touchdowns, (Browns then-coach) Butch Davis ran the “prevent” defense, and we still lost.

A. “Oh yeah, I know. I was taking my daughters to Ohio University that day, and we were stopping at bars along the way to watch the game. We had this fantastic lead, then it started drifting away. Who was the receiver who dropped that pass that would’ve sealed the game?”

Q. I don’t even want to say his name, (laughs). It was Dennis Northcutt.

A. “Yeah, Dennis Northcutt. He dropped that pass, and I said, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ ”

Q. A friend of mine was at that game. He said Steelers fans treated him as if one of his relatives just died! Can you believe that?

A. “Sometimes it’s so ridiculous, you can’t even make fun of us (laughs)!”

Reach B.J. at 330-580-8314 or bj.lisko@cantonrep.com

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