The play about a gay MLB player; Take Me Out
Author: Paul McEnaney-Rodriguez
Over the weekend, I traveled from Minnesota to see the opening night performance of the play Take Me Out by the Ti-Ahwaga Community Players in Owego, New York. If you aren’t familiar with Take Me Out, it’s a play about a major league player that comes out to his teammates during a crucial baseball season. If you have heard of it, you’re also aware that this play features some nudity by the actors throughout.
Going into it, I didn’t read much of the synopsis other than the headlines shared above. I didn’t know what to expect, but now I understand why the play was just revived on Broadway last year. Fun fact, it even won the Tony for the Best Revival of a Play at the 75th Annual Tony Awards. This post is a review of the play with some of my favorite aspects, so there are a few spoilers ahead. I took notes after each Act (there were three) so my insights will be in three sections as the play progresses.
Act I
This is when we meet all the characters and learn about their backstories. The main character (Darren) is a mixed-race center fielder for the team and comes out as gay. My assumption about the entire show was that it would just be about how he handles coming out. I expected the actual coming out to be this massive scene later in the play with teammates upset, family members hurt, fans confused, etc. To my surprise, it wasn’t a huge deal in the play. I appreciated that the story actually didn’t focus on the coming out at all. It happens between scenes in the “background” and then the story progresses into other areas. This is where everything was new to me.
Another aspect of the play that I liked was that it was more than just the team dynamics— it was about their lives, like Darren’s finances and how coming out affected that. Just one example of the play going deeper in areas I wasn’t anticipating.
Speaking of the finances, a character named Mason is an older, gay man who is Darren’s business manager. Mason had a wonderful monologue about baseball and relating it to democracy. There were also handful of lines about baseball and comparing it to other sports. What was supposed to be a normal line (how baseball is the only sport without a clock) got a few awkward chuckles out of our audience since the MLB’s pitch clock in real-life has been a hot topic. Oops. The Mason character acted as Darren’s guidance outside of the locker room and was impactful for the story to continue.
Act II
Act I ends with a new player joining their team who eventually goes on live TV and makes some really racist and homophobic statements to the media which of course affected the team. Shane is his name. This is where the play gets much deeper talking about racism along with homophobia. This was the conflict, and it didn’t stop there.
It highlighted multiple kinds of racism as well for the diverse team. There was a Japanese player who didn’t know any English and the play went into his backstory, how he got there, and the culture of Japan and the US post-WWII. The play taught the audience so much more than accepting LGBTQ+ diversity, but racial diversity as well. It was really well written and again, I just enjoyed how the play was much deeper than I anticipated.
At the end of Act II, something happened that completely shocked the audience and left my jaw on the floor.
Act III
Okay, I actually don’t want to spoil too much now that I’ve gotten here. Going in without knowing the full story makes it much more impactful. Oh, and if you were curious about the nudity, there are a few changing scenes in the lockers as well as one or two shower scenes.
The play and the production was spectacular. I wasn’t sure what to expect driving three hours northwest from Manhattan to see a play, but it was completely worth it. My expectation was a play focused on a gay athlete coming out, but it was that and so much more. As a person of color myself, I appreciated how I could relate to the story in multiple ways. I want to see the play again and catch all the lines I might have missed. I want to rehear Mason’s monologues about sports and their effect on the world.
Huge congrats on opening to the cast and crew at Ti-Ahwaga! This is a powerful play rooted in telling a story of diversity and inclusion. It was a must see for our business that celebrates that same thing year round.
Side note: The actor playing Kippy, the other lead in the play that’s teammates with Darren and acts as the narrator, was incredible. I was actually quite blown away by his performance. (Shoutout to Ryan Canavan).
