Take Me Out
Written by	Richard Greenberg
Characters	Darren Lemming Kippy Sunderstrom Mason Marzac Shane Mungitt Davey Battle Toddy Koovitz Rodriguez Martinez Skipper William R. Danziger Jason Chenier Takeshi Kawabata Policemen
Date premiered	2002
Place premiered	Donmar Warehouse London, England
Original language	English
Subject	Homophobia,racism, andclass insport
Genre	Drama
Setting	A baseball locker room

Take Me Out is aplay by American playwrightRichard Greenberg. After a staging at theDonmar Warehouse in London, it premieredOff-Broadway on September 5, 2002, at theJoseph Papp Public Theater. It made itsBroadway debut on February 27, 2003, at theWalter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 355 performances and won the 2003Tony Award for Best Play. A Broadway revival opened at theHayes Theater on April 4, 2022.

As of 2025, noMajor League Baseball (MLB) player has ever come out of the closet to the public during his career. The play is the dramatic exploration of what such an event might be like.

Playwright Greenberg has stated that one of the compulsions for creating a baseball play was his complete immersion into the sport in 1999 after following theNew York Yankees' (then-)record 114-win season the previous year, beginning withDavid Wells'perfect game.^[1] Many believe the inspiration for Darren Lemming is former American Major League Baseball playerDerek Jeter of the Yankees, and for racist pitcher Shane Mungitt, formerNational League pitcherJohn Rocker, then of theAtlanta Braves.^[2][3][4]

Much of the play is set in the locker room of a professionalbaseball team, and as such has an all-male cast that explores themes ofhomophobia,racism,class, andmasculinity insports.

Darren Lemming, a starmixed-racecenter fielder for the fictional EmpiresMajor League Baseball team,comes out as gay. His friend and teammate Kippy Sunderstrom warns Darren that the team will feel uncomfortable about his sexual orientation, but is brushed off by Darren. As Kippy wonders why Darren chose that particular moment in time to come out, a flashback to a week earlier shows Darren having drinks with his best friend Davey Battle, a religious player on a rival team. Davey tells Darren that he should want his true nature known to the world. Later, Darren meets with his new accountant Mason Marzac, a gay man uninterested in baseball until Darren's coming out.

The Empires fall into a slump, promptingrelief pitcher Shane Mungitt to be brought up from the minor leagues. Shane tells the team that as a child, he was raised in orphanages after his father killed his mother and then himself in a murder-suicide. The team begins winning games again, but in a television interview, Mungitt expresses his discomfort with "colored people" on the team, and that he has to shower every night with a "faggot."

Shane is suspended due to the interview, causing the team to fall back into its slump. He writes an apology letter that is leaked to the public, which combined with the details about his tragic childhood, causes public sympathy to shift in his favor. Shane returns to the team, despite Darren's threat to retire in protest. In the locker room showers, Darren derides Shane for his racism and homophobia, and mockingly kisses him. In the game, Shane is sent to pitch against Davey Battle; the ballhits Davey's head, killing him.

In a flashback to Darren and Davey's final encounter, Davey angrily accuses Darren of using his straight-and-narrow public reputation to conceal his sexuality. Shane is permanently suspended from major league baseball, and arrested for questioning after players say they heard him muttering about wanting to "kill someone" before the game. He refuses to speak to the police, stating that he will only talk to Kippy. Kippy is joined by Darren, and as Kippy attempts to determine whether the pitch that killed Davey was intentional, Shane discloses that the apology letter was written by Kippy on Shane's behalf.

In narration, Kippy states to the audience that the Empires went on to win theWorld Series, and no charges were ever filed against Shane. Kippy expresses to Darren his desire to again be friends, and Darren invites Mason to the end-of-season party.

The show received its world premiere at theDonmar Warehouse in London on June 20, 2002.^[5] The production was directed byJoe Mantello and starredDaniel Sunjata,Denis O'Hare,Neal Huff,Frederick Weller,Kevin Carroll,Dominic Fumusa,Gene Gabriel, Robert M. Jimenez,Joe Lisi,Kohl Sudduth, andJames Yaegashi. It ran until August 3 of the same year.

The production transferredoff-Broadway to theJoseph Papp Public Theater later that year with the same cast and direction where it ran until 2003.

The next year, the show transferred to theWalter Kerr Theatre onBroadway with the same cast^[6] with the exception of Dominic Fumusa, who was replaced byDavid Eigenberg. It opened on February 27, 2003. It featured designs byScott Pask (scenic),Jess Goldstein (costume),Kevin Adams (lighting), and Janet Kalas (sound). At the2003 Tony Awards, the production won the award forBest Play, Mantello wonBest Direction of a Play, and O'Hare wonBest Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. It closed on January 4, 2004, after 355 performances.

A Broadwayrevival opened at theHayes Theater on April 4, 2022. It was originally scheduled to begin previews on April 2, 2020, and officially open on April 23. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show suspended production on March 12. The cast is made up ofJesse Williams,Jesse Tyler Ferguson,Patrick J. Adams, Michael Oberholtzer,Brandon L. Dirden, Carl Lundstedt, Hiram Delgado, Ken Marks, Eduardo Ramos, Tyler Lansing Weaks, andJulian Cihi.^[7][8][9] The production was directed byScott Ellis and had a production team includingDavid Rockwell (scenic),Linda Cho (costumes),Kenneth Posner (lighting), and Fitz Patton (sound). The production began previews on March 10, 2022, and officially opened on April 4. It closed on June 11.^{[10][11][12][13]}

The Broadway revival had a very strict policy regarding phones and required that all audience members place their phones in lockedYondr pouches prior to the show. However, on May 9, 2022, a video leaked online of a scene of Williams during the shower scene in which he is fully nude. TheActors' Equity Association, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and 2nd Stage, the owner of the Helen Hayes Theater, released statements sharing their disgust. The latter stated they would be adding additional staff to enforce the "no phones" policy.^[14][15]

On June 12, 2022, the Broadway revival won Best Revival of a Play at the 75th Tony Awards.

The revival was remounted at theGerald Schoenfeld Theatre and began performances on October 27, 2022, for a limited run of 14 weeks.^[16] Due to previous filming engagement, Adams was unable to return andBill Heck assumed the role of Kippy for the return engagement.

A limited-run production opened at the DBS Arts Centre inSingapore on January 8, 2014, and closed on January 31.

• Kippy Sunderstrom:Bill Heck^[17]

In August 2021, it was reported thatAnonymous Content would be adapting the play into a limited television series. Jesse Williams will star and Scott Ellis will direct the pilot written by Greenberg.^[22]

• Greenberg, Richard (2003).Take Me Out: A Play. New York: Faber and Faber.ISBN 978-0-8222-1993-4.OCLC 52722075.

• ​Take Me Out​ at theInternet Broadway Database
• ​Take Me Out​ at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 2002 plays
• Broadway plays
• Drama Desk Award–winning plays
• LGBTQ-related plays
• New York Drama Critics' Circle Award winners
• Off-Broadway plays
• Plays by Richard Greenberg
• Tony Award–winning plays
• West End plays
• Plays about sport
• American plays adapted into television shows

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