Rucker Park becomes a stage in ‘Bounce: The Basketball Opera’

Jerry Coston will never forget the jitters and anxiety playing his first game at Holcombe Rucker Park — which in New York, and beyond, stands as the Mecca for outdoor basketball.

“My first bucket was a corner 3 and the crowd went crazy,” Coston, who grew up in the Bronx, said of that game two years ago. “Just stepping on the court and being part of a historical place where Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant played, you want to put on a show.”

Coston was back at Rucker on June 21 to put on another show, but this performance wasn’t about winning and losing a game. Coston is part of the cast of “Bounce: The Basketball Opera” which will return to Rucker Park for its second free performance on Saturday.

“I don’t know anything about opera, but it was amazing to walk back on the court again to be a part of this,” said Coston, a former basketball player at Lehman High School who has a minor role as the opposing coach of the main character’s team. “I played basketball as a kid, but my first love was singing, dancing and playing instruments. To be able to circle back to my roots of performance, this is amazing.”

“Bounce: The Basketball Opera” was created by Grethe Barrett Holby, an opera director inspired by the basketball stories she read her sons at night. While the bulk of the story takes place on the basketball court — and you’ll see players dunking in choreographed games during the production — the main story addresses the gun violence that dominates the streets in this country, including the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods that border Rucker.

As it tackles the issue of gun violence, Bounce provides a unique blend of opera, rap, R&B and gospel to tell the story of a high school player who is shot during a game and forced to deal with the ramifications of tragedy that left his life forever altered.

The show was developed over the last 10 years in partnership with the University of Kentucky Opera Theater and has had performances in places ranging from Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and throughout New York City.

As cast members were invited to perform portions of the show at places including halftime of Brooklyn Nets games and during Harlem Week, the Rucker Pro Legends’ Association branch of Each One Teach One suggested bringing the entire show to the outdoor court that is at the heart of New York’s basketball culture.

“We want to take this to Compton, to Chicago and to all the places where basketball is a big part of the community,” said Jacqueline Cohen, the show’s producer. “With the show, we go into the community and find the basketball players, chorus and young actors and meld them with experienced gospel and opera singers. That combination of experienced performers and people who are green is a magical component of Bounce.”

Cohen had a chance encounter with NBA commissioner Adam Silver at a New York restaurant this year, and that conversation resulted in the league offering assistance. Phil Weber, a long-time NBA assistant, has helped shape the basketball mechanics of the show’s non-hoopers. Former NBA guard Smush Parker, a Brooklyn native, plays an on-court announcer.

For Coston, he landed his spot in the show at the invitation of a friend who is part of the production.

“He called and asked if I wanted to be an extra in an opera and I’m like, ‘Heck yeah,’ ” Coston said. “Honestly, I’d never been to an opera and never even seen an opera before this. For me, it was just a general curiosity of how they would mix basketball and opera.”

Coston, since signing on, has had the time of his life and even celebrated his 25th birthday performing in last Saturday’s show. He’s excited to return to Rucker for this weekend’s finale.

“Rucker is a space that allows people to perform, so my mindset going into this show is the same as the game I played there,” Coston said. “It’s funny how basketball has brought me back to the singing and dancing side of my life.”