‘Crazy Eyes’ Uzo Adubo due to play the first black female baseball player, Toni Stone

Best known for her role as Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren on Orange is The New Black, Uzo Adubo is due to reprise the life of Toni Stone – the first black woman to play professional baseball in the professional league.

Adubo will appear on stage in the Roundabout Theater Company’s 2018-2019 shows. Off-Broadway preview shows will begin May 2019. The play was written by Lydia R. Diamond and will premiere at the Laura Pels Theatre.

Aduba previously performed on Broadway for 2013 “Venice” at New York’s Public Theatre and in 2011 for the play “Godspell.”

Stone changed the course of history in 1953 when she became the first African-American woman to join the Negro Leagues, hitting a pitch against Satchell Paige, renowned as one of the greatest pitchers ever.

During her career, Stone played 50 games and sustained a .243 batting average.

The two-time Emmy Award and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner has appeared in six additional stage plays, popular television shows such as “Project Runway: All-stars”, “Saturday Night Live” and the films “My Little Pony” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

Born Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba, the actress has Nigerian ancestry and was raised in Boston, Massachusetts.

Aduba attended Boston University where she competed in track and field and studied classical voice.