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| Take Me Out... | | Date Created: Aug 01, 2005, 12:00 PM |
Thursday night, Brian and I and some friends went to see the Performance Network's production of Take Me Out. Though not everyone in our group found it enjoyable, I did.
This is a play about a big-shot, big-league baseball player, Darren, who surprises his team (and everyone else) by coming out. Shortly after, the team hires a new pitcher, Shane, an orphan from some place down South (he's not very specific). After Shane is hired he talks to the press and says some definitely politically incorrect things about his teammates which include several epithets. He's suspended for a few weeks, then allowed back on the team after making an apology. However, his reinstatement does not sit well with Darren. Eventually, Very Bad Things happen and the play spirals down to its conclusion.
Additional characters include Kippy, the team intellectual and the play's narrator, and Mason, a convert to the game who is Darren's accountant (who, Ray Schultz plays to perfection ... nearly stealing the show.)
The writing is tight and quick. The staging is efficient. The plot is interesting, though the "Worship of Baseball" thing gets annoying after a while (if you've seen the movie The Natural, you know what I'm talking about.)
If this were a musical, I'd say every character got their song. In this case, I'd say every main character got their scene and played it well. I enjoyed that the writer, Richard Greenberg, did such a good job of shifting the point of view throughout the show. For example, when Shane is reinstated, Darren is strongly against it. In his argument with the team's manager about this situation, Darren reflects the same ignorance and insensitivity about Shane that Shane has shown about Darren. Nice twist, and it didn't seem forced to me at all.
I'm not saying this is the best play I've ever seen, but it was pretty good, and I'd recommend seeing it.
Oh, by the way, there's nekkid men in this play. Nekkid men showering. Just warning you. |
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