BWW Reviews: ACT 1's TAKE ME OUT

Who's to blame? That's the question that looms large over the onstage action of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, now in performance at Darkhorse Theatre in a superbly cast production directed by Joy Tilley Perryman for ACT 1.

Set against the backdrop of major league baseball, peopled with characters who evoke images of sports superstars, and considering what might transpire if one of those athletes were to come out as gay in the middle of a season destined to be one for the record books, Take Me Out - although manipulative and didactic at times despite Greenberg's sharply tuned dialogue and storytelling - focuses tightly upon prejudice, bigotry, classism and racism. Boldly and directly, Greenberg asks his audience to consider the question of "who's to blame?" for all the prejudice in the world - in sports, certainly, but perhaps more intriguingly in the larger world of which baseball is but a small part.

Tilley Perryman's remarkable eye for casting is what is particularly noteworthy about this production of Take Me Out. Somehow (knowing the vagaries of casting community theater in a city such as Nashville), she has assembled an ensemble of actors who breathe vigorous life into their script-bound characters to create the sense of teamwork and camaraderie that is essential to the show's success. Her collaboration with Dave McGinnis (who also assays a couple of effective cameo roles in the piece) on the production's set design results in a winning backdrop for the play's action: a baseball stadium situated in the intimate confines of the Darkhorse Theatre.

When the 2002 play premiered, it caused ripples of controversy - both for its ample onstage nudity (we're happy to report that Tilley Perryman and company don't shy away from locker room openness) and its basic premise, which focuses on the repercussions of a baseball legend-in-the-making who decides to announce to his millions of fans that he is, indeed, gay. Public response to star centerfielder Darren Lemming's (the character is allegedly inspired by Greenberg's wonderings of what would happen if a player of Derek Jeter's stature were to come out of the closet) revelation is predictably mixed. In the play's world of the fictional World Series champions, The Empires, the announcement sets off a firestorm of punditry and name-calling in the locker room, on the diamond and in the court of public opinion. Superbly played by Joel Diggs, whose laconic grace and ease of delivery make him the perfect actor for the role, Darren is at once charming and off-putting: an attractive, if reluctant, poster boy for the GLBT movement.

And when a backward, tobacco-chewing and spitting, relief pitcher named Shane Mungitt (who's from Arkansas-Tennessee-Mississippi - yea for all of us from below the Mason-Dixon Line!) is brought up to the big leagues to help the Empires come out of a post-revelatory slump, the stage is set for even more drama than is initially expected. Obviously inspired by baseball bad-boy John Rocker, Shane (played with repulsive charm by Eric Butler, whose spot-on Southern cracker accent renders his character all the more frightening: I can too easily imagine him going on about someone having "a real pretty mouth" to feel completely at ease in the dark of a theater) is an epithet-spewing Neanderthal, almost unable to express himself without insulting someone.

Since Take Me Out won the Tony Award for best play during the 2002-03 Broadway season, times have changed somewhat and the notion of a star athlete coming out isn't nearly so extraordinary as it once was. That's not to say it wouldn't be newsworthy today, but the public reaction and vociferous responses set off by Darren's announcement in the play very possibly would be more muted now, perhaps dating the play. Yet, while the sexual orientation aspect of the play's plotline might seem more palatable, if you will, recent events demonstrate that we still have a long way to go in terms of eradicating racism, classism, sexism and homophobia from our society.

Greenberg's consideration of these dog-whistle topics is intellectually compelling, if somewhat heavy-handed. However, his love of baseball transcends the political ramifications of Take Me Out and, ultimately, may ensure the play's theatrical longevity for years to come. His avatar within the play - Darren's financial manager Mason Marzac - opines rather lyrically about the universality of baseball and its meaning to generations of fans - with enthusiasm and vigor which allows Bradley Moore to deliver a performance that shows off his versatility as an actor and his commitment to the role of a gay man who finds himself, however shockingly, a recent convert to the wonders of the sport.

Kurt Jarvis, as shortstop Kippy Sunderstrom (Darren's best friend on the Empires' team), adroitly serves as the audience's tour guide through the story and, in so doing, delivers a genuinely appealing performance from start to finish. Others among Tilley Perryman's talented ensemble who give especiallynoteworthy performances are Connor Hall as catcher Jason Chenier, Daniel Vincent as locker room dunderhead Toddy Koovitz and Robert Marigza as Japanese pitcher Takeshi Kawabata.

• Take Me Out. By Richard Greenberg. Directed by Joy Tilley Perryman. Presented by ACT 1 at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville. Through May 9. For further details, go to www.ACT1online.com. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (with two 10-minute intermissions).

Take Me Out photos by Ken Gray Images

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