Preview: 'Jackie & Me' at Seattle Children's Theatre takes us to the 1947 Dodgers clubhouse

The story of Jackie Robinson is not just the exciting triumph of an individual athlete, but a historical marker of American civil rights, and an exciting tale of personal courage that bears retelling more than a half-century after the Hall of Famer became the first black player in Major League Baseball.

Robinson's saga was recaptured in Dan Gutman's popular 2000 novel for young readers, "Jackie & Me." Thanks to local playwright Steven Dietz's dramatization of the book at Seattle Children's Theatre, it is hitting the stage to regale local kids in another medium.

Dietz's adroit adaptation of a previous Gutman book, "Honus & Me," which centers on a baseball-obsessed kid name Joe who communes with the spirit of long-ago star shortstop Honus Wagner, was a 2006 hit for SCT. Gutman attended, and the show so pleased him, he happily gave his blessing to the stage version of "Jackie & Me," based on another volume in the novelist's series of sports books, "Baseball Card Adventures."

In the SCT show, Joe returns as a feisty Little League player who travels far back in time to Brooklyn, N.Y., in the 1940s. He becomes a batboy for the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers and witnesses firsthand the racist taunts and other challenges facing Dodgers slugger Robinson in his first game in the big leagues.

Deitz's "Jackie & Me" has been warmly received in Chicago and other cities, and it is being staged here by Sheila Daniels, with actor and Centrum educator Erwin E.A. Thomas in the role of Robinson.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com