Blog: 'Take Me Out' at 2nd Story Theatre

“TAKE ME OUT” AT 2ND STORY THEATRE IN WARREN

I became interested in the sport of baseball recently…yeah, yeah, yeah, late to the party, I know…

  Didn’t grow up in a family of sports enthusiasts…..concentrated on all the artsy stuff…truly missed out, I know.

  Sports are like the arts, I think, in that both are about community..kind of what Shakespeare had in mind..with the Globe Theatre..in that people of all walks of life, all backgrounds, come together to enjoy and for that one night or day, have something in common....

 I took a tour of Fenway Park, the best ten bucks I’ve spent…with a hours worth of history on Fenway and its players…from the story behind the single red chairback  (Ted Williams’ longest home run) to what the initials in morse code mean on the scoreboard (those of  former owners Thomas A. Yawkey and his wife)

 I learn fast.

 Then, I went to see “Moneyball,” the Brad Pitt movie about the Oakland Athletics Baseball Team, their manager Billy Beane (Pitt) and the mathematical way they built up a competitive team after loosing the 2002 season…WONDERFUL!! Such an education for a neophyte like myself.

  All this to get around to the latest venture by 2^ND Story Theatre, “Take Me Out,” by Richard Greenberg.

  I’ve always wanted to see it; it won the Tony Award on Broadway back in 2003.

  It’s the story of the fictional New York Empires baseball team.

  Its star player, both in looks and ability, Darren Lemming, decides he can no longer keep his secret, and comes out to the press.

   He didn’t think it would be any big deal being a gay baseball player.

  What ensues is a test of friendship, good, evil, right and wrong, homophobia, racism, even the true meaning behind the sport.

  By the end, you feel like you truly know the players on the Empires…from Kippy, the liberal intellectual, to Darren, and Shane (the pitcher who NEVER had the comforts of home)...and you CARE about them, how they handle just what happens to the team after Darren drops his bombshell!!

  The entire cast is flawless…that includes Tim White as Kippy, Ara Boghigian as Darren, and Jeff Church as Shane.

  And oh yes, there’s Darren’s new business manager, nebbishy Mason Marzac, played by the wonderful Kevin Broccoli…who is just discovering the wonder of the game (like me)

When I go to a play, I try to imagine if the actors on stage could make it in New York, that’s not fair , I know, but I do it….and with this cast, I felt like I was sitting in a New York production, they were wonderful!!! All twelve of them.

   There is some nudity and profanity…but after all, we are in the locker room…it’s not offensive…and critical to one part of the story.

  And it’s the little touches by director Ed Shea…the players are warming up onstage while the audience files in…a green screen stands in for the playing field…

 “Take Me Out” at 2^nd Story Theatre is a HOME RUN!!! …you have until February 19^th to play ball…. (I can’t wait to go back to Fenway!)