THE STORY: Thousands of miles from his war-torn native Croatia, Drazen spends his days betting on horses at a Lower East Side Off-Track Betting establishment. His friend Ken, a Nigerian no longer welcome in his own country, joins him. Drazen is going to help Ken win at the ponies—and aid him in making payments on his brand new livery cab. Both men quickly discover that no matter what part of the world you come from, America can be a dangerous place.
“Mike Batistick’s punchy New York story, PONIES…is about the precariousness of immigrant life in New York after 9/11…Mr. Batistick has a good ear for dialogue, and his foulmouthed, cruel banter has the ring of truth.” —The New York Times.
“In Mike Batistick’s brisk drama…a seedy Lower East Side Off-Track Betting center is the most hopeful place in New York.” —The New Yorker.
“A bracingly uncensored exploration of the tensions and treacheries in a beleaguered male subculture…You can almost smell the reek of frantic hope in the seedy Off-Track betting-shop in PONIES, where we see three recent immigrants backing horses, sweating on the results and trading insults. You could not accuse Batistick of sentimentalising the trio…It’s PONIES to which I raise a double measure.” —The Independent (UK).
“Mike Batistick’s sharp-as-a-flick-knife play centres on Drazen, a sinister comic rogue, who is happy to destroy those around him in order to suit his febrile whims…Batistick’s vision is horrifying, because it shows Drazen as a monster who knows little about other cultures, but is happy to feed off the prejudices that power American society in order to further his own ends.” —Time Out London.
