After Endgame

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Sitting before you is a board of 64 alternating-colored squares, typically black and white. Arrayed on the board are playing pieces of different shapes and sizes: 16 white and 16 black. They represent two opposing armies preparing to assault each other in a centuries-old game of strategy and tactics called chess. Each player will alternately make their moves, one piece at a time, until they approach the point where the truth of their actions plays out in what is called the endgame. It is where all that has gone before is realized in glorious triumph or ignominious failure.

After Endgame, written and performed by Kevin James Doyle, is a tale well told of a life shaped by adventures in the world of chess. Two-time Emmy Award-winning Cory Cavin directs this solid one-man show. Doyle is an actor, comedian, and chess teacher who has given over 6,500 lessons. He is also a consummate storyteller who takes what some, in a general audience, may consider a dull and uninteresting topic, chess, and turns it into an adventure with a life-changing outcome.

When asked if After Endgame was based on real life, Doyle said, in an interview with John Soltes on the “Hollywood Soapbox” website, “Yes, I have been teaching chess in New York City for 12 years, and in March of 2023, I was flown to Singapore to teach some of the richest people in the world. It’s a story I can’t believe I lived through, but it all happened.”

The build-up to the trip is like the opening moves in a chess match leading to a middlegame, the trip. The endgame is Singapore, and that experience taught him about life and the characters who inhabit that life. The opening “gambit” and the moves to the middlegame are engaging storytelling exercises. He takes the audience through the rudiments of chess, referencing some of the students he has taught, such as a 97-year-old man and a 3-year-old child.

One of the important lessons from teaching children is to let them win in the beginning. “If you let them win, they’ll say, “Chess is fun! I beat Mr. Kevin!” And the parents will say, “Wow, they’re so smart. Come over every week, and I’ll pay you lots of money.” And I’m like, “Yes, of course.” It is an important point for an actor and comedian, who, like many performers, does not have a regular paycheck from their craft.

Doyle builds the opening gambit with anecdotes about his teaching and moments from his life, such as how he became interested in acting as a child and a more recent story about an opportunity to be on the TV show Law and Order and how he came to turn the job down. This section of the show leads to the middlegame and some chess history illustrated with stories of classic encounters between masters of the game over the centuries leading up to the games between a computer and a great modern master.

During the development of the middlegame, Doyle introduces the game of backgammon as a contrast to chess. He speaks of backgammon as a game of skill and probability, and unlike chess, it all takes place in the open, with the roll of dice determining the moves the player must make. In chess, the moves are not determined by chance but are carefully calculated based on the player’s thoughts. What happens on the board is the revelation of the analysis unavailable to the observers of the game. Doyle says that backgammon is more exciting for observers because the moves are related to the dice roll. With the addition of a gambling device, it takes on even more engaging aspects.

The stories and examples in the middlegame make a solid foundation for the endgame, in this case, Singapore. Doyle introduces the endgame with a story about a trip to France and the discovery that his name, Kevin, has a special meaning in France and not in a positive sense. The story introduces Kevin of Singapore, a central figure in the endgame involving some of the world’s wealthiest people. The Singapore endgame navigates through some interesting encounters ultimately leading to important life lessons for Doyle, and the listeners engaged with his storytelling. It is something to be experienced in its fullness.

Doyle’s storytelling skillfully blends didactic commentary with humorous anecdotes, holding the audience’s attention throughout and resulting in a thoroughly satisfying evening of entertainment. Whether you are a chess person or not, it is a show worth seeing. Afterward, you can hang around in the “Soho Chess Lounge,” the Huron Room performance space skillfully transformed by set designer and chess consultant Charles “Chuck” Matte.

After Endgame (through March 8, 2025)

Mister Sauce Productions

SoHo Playhouse, Huron Room, 15 Vandam Street, in Manhattan.

For tickets, visit https://www.kevinjamesdoylecomedy.com/

Running time: 75 minutes without an intermission