Take Me Out

I participated in a staged reading event this past week, and one of the questions that came up in the discussion was the use of language to reveal character. So it's entirely possible it's just plastered to the front of my cerebellum as I think about Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg. But I don't think so: I think precise language that carefully defines character is the shining feature of this play.

The most shocking thing about the writing here is the crafting of the central figure of Darren Lemming, star center fielder for a very thinly veiled Yankees team ... who also publicly comes out of the closet. (I had to double check: this play predates A-Rod joining the Yankees by a couple of years.)

As I read it, I kept thinking what a carefully defined role this is, and how difficult it'd be to cast. Beyond the specific physical attributes, the language describes a character is floats in a zone between many extremes: his language is a mixture of grace and slang, intelligence and jock-speak, hubris and self-questioning. It's a tough mix, and a type we haven't seen on stage. Just because he is gay and has some ability with language doesn't mean he isn't also a professional athlete, with all that often entails. That grey zone is much of what the play's about, and it's all there in the language, as he never settles into any defined role: instead he breaks them.

And then there's the language of those beautiful showpiece arias that won Denis O'Hare his Tony. I'm not the biggest baseball fan in the world, and I tend to reject cloying paeans of the George Will/Bob Costas variety. But these are simply stunning speeches that speak to the power and beauty of sport.