When Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out first hit the stage at the Public Theater and then moved to Broadway in 2003, it felt like a bomb had gone off in the middle of a baseball diamond. People were talking about the nudity. Honestly, everyone was talking about the showers. But if you look past the headlines and the shock value of that original production—or even the recent, star-studded revival—you find a play that is deeply, almost painfully, about more than just a superstar coming out.
It’s about the myth of America.
Baseball is the canvas. Darren Lemming is the centerpiece. He’s the star center fielder for the fictional Empires, a guy who is so talented and so confident that he thinks he’s invincible. He comes out of the closet not because he wants to be an activist, but because he genuinely cannot imagine a world where people wouldn't still adore him. It’s a fascinating, arrogant kind of courage.
The Complicated Legacy of Take Me Out on Broadway
The 2022 revival at the Hayes Theater, which later moved to the Schoenfeld, reminded us why this script won the Tony Award for Best Play back in 2003. Jesse Williams stepped into the role of Darren Lemming, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson took on Mason Marzac, the business manager who falls in love with the game. If you didn't catch it, you missed something special. Ferguson's performance was a masterclass in how a "non-sports person" discovers the geometric beauty of baseball.
But let's be real. Broadway is a tough place for plays about sports. Usually, they flop. Take Me Out survived and thrived because it treats the locker room like a laboratory for human behavior.
Why the Locker Room Setting Actually Matters
It isn't just a gimmick. The locker room is a sacred space in professional sports. It's where the "unspoken rules" live. When Darren breaks the silence, he doesn't just change his own life; he shifts the gravity for everyone around him.
You have Kippy Sunderstrom, the intellectual teammate who tries to mediate everything. Then you have Shane Mungitt. Shane is the villain, but he's a pathetic one. He’s a relief pitcher from a background of deep trauma and zero education. His arrival turns a cerebral play into a tragedy. When Shane speaks, the air in the theater usually gets sucked out of the room. It’s raw. It’s ugly. And it's unfortunately still very relevant.
The play asks a question we still haven't answered in 2026: can a team—or a country—actually handle total honesty?
📖 Related: Why Grand Funk’s Bad Time is Secretly the Best Pop Song of the 1970s
Challenging the "Post-Gay" Narrative
Back in the early 2000s, critics often called this a "post-gay" play. The idea was that Darren was so elite that his sexuality shouldn't matter. But Greenberg is smarter than that. He shows us that the world isn't ready. Even in the revival, which felt more modern, the friction between Darren's identity and his teammates' discomfort felt brand new.
Some people think the play is dated. They're wrong.
Look at the headlines in professional sports today. We still have maybe one or two active out players in major leagues at any given time. The "closet" in the MLB or the NFL isn't a relic of the past; it's a reinforced concrete bunker. Take Me Out on Broadway reflects that reality with a sharpness that most sports movies completely ignore.
The Mason Marzac Factor
If Darren is the heart of the play, Mason Marzac is the soul. Mason is an accountant who has never cared about sports. Suddenly, he’s representing Darren, and he starts watching the games. His monologues about the "perfectly democratic" nature of baseball are some of the best writing in modern theater history.
He sees baseball as a metaphor for hope. In a game with no clock, you can technically play forever. You always have a chance to come back. For a guy like Mason, who felt excluded from "masculine" spaces his whole life, baseball becomes a way to belong.
It's beautiful. It's also hilarious.
What the Production Gets Right About Baseball
Most plays get the "vibe" of sports wrong. They make it too cinematic or too goofy. Take Me Out understands the boredom of baseball. The long stretches of nothing followed by seconds of pure terror or brilliance.
👉 See also: Why La Mera Mera Radio is Actually Dominating Local Airwaves Right Now
The staging of the Broadway productions—both the Joe Mantello original and the Scott Ellis revival—used the locker room showers to emphasize vulnerability. When these men are naked, they have no jerseys. No stats. No wealth. They are just men, and that’s when the real tension starts.
- The intimacy of the Hayes Theater made the 2022 revival feel like you were eavesdropping.
- The sound design usually incorporates the distant crack of a bat or the roar of a crowd, making the stadium feel like a monster looming just outside the walls.
- The lighting shifts from the harsh fluorescent glow of the locker room to the "god-light" of the playing field.
The Tragic Pivot of Shane Mungitt
We have to talk about Shane. In the revival, Michael Oberholtzer played him with this terrifying, twitchy energy. Shane is the guy who says the things that end careers. But Greenberg doesn't make him a cartoon. He makes him a product of a broken system.
When the tragedy happens in the third act—and if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil the specifics—it isn't just a "bad thing" that happens. It’s the inevitable result of ignorance colliding with a world that is moving too fast for some people to keep up.
It's a gut punch. Every single time.
Navigating the Controversy
You can't talk about Take Me Out on Broadway without mentioning the cell phone incidents. During the revival, some audience members decided to ignore the "no phones" rule and record the nude scenes. It caused a massive stir in the theater community.
Jesse Williams handled it with a lot of grace, but it sparked a huge debate about the "sanctity of the stage." It’s ironic, really. A play about the invasion of a private space (the locker room) was disrupted by the invasion of a private space (the theater).
The theater responded by doubling down on Yondr pouches. It’s a reminder that even in a digital age, there are some experiences that are meant to be lived, not recorded.
✨ Don't miss: Why Love Island Season 7 Episode 23 Still Feels Like a Fever Dream
Why You Should Still Care
You might think, "I don't like baseball, why should I care about this play?"
Honestly? Because it’s not about baseball. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves to get through the day. It’s about how we treat people who don’t fit our specific mold of a "hero."
Darren Lemming is a hero who realizes his cape is made of paper. That’s a human story.
Moving Beyond the Box Score
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of Take Me Out or the themes it explores, don't just stop at the script.
- Read the script: Richard Greenberg’s dialogue is rhythmic. It’s almost like jazz. Reading it gives you a different appreciation for the "Eighty-One Games" speech.
- Watch the interviews: Seek out the "Theater Talk" archives or recent "A360" interviews with the revival cast. They talk extensively about the psychological toll of playing these roles.
- Explore the history: Look into the real-life stories of players like Glenn Burke or Billy Bean. Their actual experiences in the MLB provide a sobering backdrop to the fictional world of the Empires.
- Support local revivals: This play is frequently produced by regional theaters. Because it only requires a small-ish cast of men, it’s a staple for companies looking to do "prestige" drama.
The next time Take Me Out finds its way back to a Broadway marquee—and it will, because great plays never stay away for long—buy the ticket. Sit in the dark. Put your phone in the pouch. Let the story of Darren, Mason, and the Empires remind you that even in a game with no clock, time eventually runs out for everyone.
The real insight here is that the play doesn't offer a happy ending. It offers an honest one. In a world of sanitized entertainment, that's worth more than a walk-off home run.