WHEN
Extended to June 11
RUNNING TIME
2 hours and 15 minutes including an intermission
WHERE
TICKET PACKAGES
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4 TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS
Best Revival of a Play
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Michael Oberholtzer
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Jesse Williams
"ROBUSTLY ENTERTAINING. A TOP-NOTCH REVIVAL!â
â THE WASHINGTON POST
EXTENDED TO JUNE 11 â HAYES THEATER
TAKE ME OUT
BY
RICHARD GREENBERG
DIRECTED BY
SCOTT ELLIS
WITH
PATRICK J. ADAMS, JULIAN CIHI, HIRAM DELGADO, BRANDON J. DIRDEN, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, CARL LUNDSTEDT, KEN MARKS, MICHAEL OBERHOLTZER, EDUARDO RAMOS, TYLER LANSING WEAKS, JESSE WILLIAMS
In this Tony AwardÂŽ-winning Best Play, playwright Richard Greenberg celebrates the personal and professional intricacies of Americaâs favorite pastime. When Darren Lemming, the star center fielder for the Empires, comes out of the closet, the reception off the field reveals a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices. Facing some hostile teammates and fraught friendships, Darren is forced to contend with the challenges of being a gay person of color within the confines of a classic American institution. As the Empires struggle to rally toward a championship season, the players and their fans begin to question tradition, their loyalties, and the price of victory.
Take Me Out is supported by grants from the Berlanti Family Foundation, the Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Please note: Take Me Out includes adult situations and nudity.
Yondr: Out of respect and support for our actors and in order to create a phone-free space, Second Stage will be working with Yondr for all performances of Take Me Out. Upon arrival at the Hayes, all phones are placed in Yondr cases by our staff and will be unlocked at the end of the show. Guests maintain possession of their devices at all times. For more information, please visit https://www.overyondr.com/faq
For our latest health protocols please click here: https://2st.com/visit/safety-updates
SCENIC DESIGN: DAVID ROCKWELL
COSTUME DESIGN: LINDA CHO
LIGHTING DESIGN: KENNETH POSNER
SOUND DESIGN:Â BRAY POOR
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: BARCLAY STIFF
STAGE MANAGER: KELLY LEVYÂ
CASTING: JIM CARNAHAN, CSA
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RICHARD GREENBERG â PLAYWRIGHT
Author of The Babylon Line, The Assembled Parties (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Take Me Out (Tony Award for Best Play; Drama Desk Award; NY Drama Critics Circle Award; Outer Critics Circle Award; Lucille Lortel Award), The House in Town, The Violet Hour, The Dazzle (Outer Critics Circle Award), Everett Beekin, Three Days of Rain (L.A. Drama Critics Award; Pulitzer finalist), The American Plan, and many other plays.

SCOTT ELLIS â DIRECTOR
Broadway credits include: currently Tootsie (2019 Tony Award nomination), as well as Kiss Me Kate, She Loves Me (2016 Tony Award nomination), On the Twentieth Century, You Canât Take It With You (Tony nomination), The Elephant Man, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony nomination), Harvey, Curtains (Tony nomination), The Little Dog Laughed (Drama League Award nomination), Twelve Angry Men (Tony nomination), The Man Who Had All the Luck, The Rainmaker, 1776 (Drama Desk Award and Tony nominations), Picnic (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Company, A Month in the Country and Steel Pier (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway credits include Dada Woof Papa Hot; The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin; Gruesome Playground Injuries; Streamers; Good Boys and True; Entertaining Mr. Sloane; Flora, the Red Menace (Drama Desk nomination); And the World Goes âRound (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), and The Waverly Gallery. His television credits include âDr. Kenâ (pilot), âUndateableâ (pilot), âTwo Broke Girls,â âThe Good Wife,â âThe Closer,â âWeedsâ (executive producer), â30 Rockâ (Emmy Award nomination for Best Director), âModern Family,â Foxâs âA Christmas Story Live.â .

PATRICK J. ADAMS
Patrick J. Adams is making his Broadway debut in Take Me Out. Theater credits include âThe Goat, or Who is Sylvia,â âEquivocation,â and â9 Circles.â Adams starred as Mike Ross in USAâs hit drama âSuits,â which garnered him a SAG Award nomination. He has appeared in dozens of television shows and films and will next be seen in Amazonâs TV adaption of âA League of Their Own.â He graduated from the USC School of Dramatic Arts where he now serves on the Board of Councilors.Â

JULIAN CIHI
Julian was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. Broadway: Doctor Zhivago. Off-Broadway: Romeo and Juliet (CSC). Regional: Williamstown, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep. Julian has also performed in Japanese productions of RENT and As You Like It. TV: Mr. Robot (USA), Gypsy (Netflix), Crashing (HBO), The Tick (Amazon Prime), Only Murders in the Building (Hulu). Education: Brown University (BA); NYU Grad Acting (MFA).

HIRAM DELGADO
Hiram will make his Broadway debut in this production. He has appeared Off-Broadway in Agnes (59E59) and regionally at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Hiramâs film and TV credits include âThe Code,â âMadame Secretary,â and The Vessel. Education: BA, University of Puerto Rico: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting.

BRANDON J. DIRDEN
Starred on Broadway as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Tony Award-winning production of All the Way, with Bryan Cranston, and as Booster in the Tony Award-winning revival of August Wilson's Jitney. Additional Broadway credits include Clybourne Park, Enron, and Prelude to a Kiss. Off-Broadway, he has appeared in The Piano Lesson, for which he won Obie, Theatre World, and AUDELCO awards; The First Breeze of Summer and Day of Absence at Signature Theatre; Detroit â67 at the Public Theater and Classical Theatre of Harlem; Peter and the Starcatcher at New York Theatre Workshop and as âBrutusâ in TFANAâs production of Juilius Caesar. On screen, he has appeared in âThe Good Wife,â âFor Life,â âThe Big C,â âPublic Morals,â âManifest,â âThe Get Down,â âThe Accidental Wolf,â âBlue Bloods,â âThe Quad,â and four seasons of FXâs âThe Americansâ as Agent Dennis Aderholt. He is currently shooting the upcoming ABC series âFor Lifeâ and recently completed work on the FX miniseries, âMrs. America.â He has directed numerous plays by Dominique Morriseau and August Wilson. Brandon is a frequent volunteer at the 52nd Street Project and a proud member of Actorsâ Equity Association and Fair Wage On Stage.

JESSE TYLER FERGUSON
Jesse currently stars as âMitchell Pritchettâ on the Award-winning ABC comedy âModern Family.â Recently renewed for its 11th and final season, the show has earned five Emmy AwardsÂŽ for Outstanding Comedy Series, a Golden Globe AwardÂŽ for Outstanding Comedy Series and four Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Ferguson has also received five Emmy AwardÂŽ nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and three Peopleâs Choice Award nominations for "Favorite Comedic TV Actor" on behalf of âModern Family.â A longstanding advocate for marriage equality, Ferguson co-founded Tie The Knot in 2012 with his husband, where they design limited edition bow ties with all the proceeds going to various organizations that fight for LGBTQ equality around the world. In 2017, he won the Drama Desk Award for "Best Solo Performance" for his 40-character turn in the Broadway production of Fully Committed. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 21 as "Chip" in George C. Wolfe's revival of On The Town. He later went on to originate the role of "Leaf Coneybear" in Second Stageâs Tony AwardÂŽ-winning Broadway musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Drama Desk Award, "Outstanding Ensemble Performance"). He has worked extensively with The New York Public Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park in such notable productions as The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Comedy of Errors where he performed alongside Al Pacino, Sam Waterston, Jesse L. Martin, Martha Plimpton, Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe. Other theatre credits include world premieres of Christopher Shinn's Where Do We Live and Michael John LaChiusa's Little Fish (Second Stage) as well as "Sir Robin" in Spamalot, "Leo Bloom" in The Producers, both at The Hollywood Bowl, and most recently âLog Cabinâ with the Playwrights Horizons company, directed by Tony AwardÂŽ and Obie Award-winner Pam MacKinnon. Ferguson will appear in Bess Wohlâs Grand Horizons this summer as part of the Williamstown Theater Festivalâs 65th season.

CARL LUNDSTEDT
Carl will make his Broadway debut in this production. He has appeared on film in Joker (Warner Bros.). Carlâs TV credits include âManifestâ (NBC), âMarvelâs Cloak and Daggerâ (Freeform), âGreyâs Anatomyâ (ABC), and âConvictionâ (ABC). He appeared regionally in the World Premiere of Reverberation by Matthew Lopez (Hartford Stage, Connecticut Critics Circle Nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Connecticut Critics Circle Winner for Best Newcomer). Education: BFA, Carnegie Mellon University.

KEN MARKS
Ken has appeared on Broadway in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (Uncle Ben), Airline Highway, Spring Awakening, Rock NâRoll, Hairspray (Wilbur Turnblad), After the Fall, Mamma Mia (OBC), Present Laughter and Dancing at Lughnasa. Off-Broadway, Ken has appeared as The Colonel in Father Comes Home from the Wars (Public Theater), Bethany (Womenâs Project), Editor Webb in Our Town (Barrow Street), Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons), Orsonâs Shadow (Barrow Street) and Stuff Happens (Public Theater). His TV credits include recurring roles on âElementary,â âThe Exorcist,â âLife on Mars,â and âThe Tick,â and guest stars on âBillions,â âBlue Bloods,â âThe Good Wife,â âMadam Secretaryâ and various âLaw & Orderâ episodes. Kenâs film credits include The Confession, The Wackness, Step-Up 3D, Kelly & Cal, Henryâs Crime and Blood Stripe.

MICHAEL OBERHOLTZER
Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Hand to God, The Babylon Line (Lincoln Center Theater) and The Talls (Second Stage). He has appeared on film and television in âSneaky Peteâ (Amazon), âGood Girls Revoltâ (Amazon), âThe Americansâ (FX), âForeverâ (ABC), âNYC 22â (CBS), âLaw & Orderâ (NBC), Delivery Man, HairBrained, Hits, Cut Shoot Kill, Trouble, Staring at the Sun, Aardvark and South Mountain.

EDUARDO RAMOS
Eduardo will be making his Broadway debut with this production. His TV credits include âAlternatino with Arturo Castroâ (Comedy Central), âThe Deuceâ (HBO), âKevin Can Waitâ (CBS), and âInside Amy Schumerâ (Comedy Central). His theatre credits include, âVanya, Sonya, Masha, and Spikeâ (Hampton Theatre Company), and âBodas de Sangreâ (E3Outlaws/United Productions, Premios ACE âBest New Actorâ winner for the role of Leonardo). Education: BA, Ursinus College

TYLER LANSING WEAKS
New York credits include: The New Yorkers (Encores!), Macbeth (Lincoln Center). Select Regional: Spike in Vanya and Sonia and... (Old Globe, Huntington), Comedy of Errors (Hartford Stage), The Glass Menagerie (Barrington Stage), Sparrowgrass (Trinity Rep.); TV Credits: The Good Wife (CBS), Elementary (CBS); Select Film: The Chaperone, A Rainy Day in New York and Nighthawks. MFA: Brown/Trinity Rep. As always, thanks Paige.

JESSE WILLIAMS
Jesse is an activist/actor/entrepreneur and former high school teacher. He plays Dr. Jackson Avery in ABCâs hit series âGreyâs Anatomyâ and has appeared in films including Lee Danielsâ The Butler, The Cabin in the Woods, Band Aid, and the upcoming Jacobâs Ladder and Selah and the Spades. Jesse served as senior producer and correspondent alongside Norman Lear for their EPIX docuseries âAmerica Divided.â He executive produced the documentary âStay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement,â which premiered summer 2016 and is currently touring internationally. Williams is a partner and board member of Scholly, a mobile app that has connected students directly to over 100 million dollars in unclaimed scholarships. He is the co-founder of BLeBRiTY, a very successful black culturally centered mobile game and the Ebroji Mobile App, a popular cultural language keyboard. Williams is founder of the production company, farWord Inc. and the executive producer of âQuestion Bridge: Black Males,â a series of transmedia art installations on display as part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture's permanent collection. Williams gained international attention for his 2016 BET Humanitarian Award acceptance speech. He is also the youngest member to sit on the Board of Directors for both Advancement Project, a leading national civil rights advocacy organization, and Harry Belafonteâs arts and social justice organization, Sankofa.org.
DAVID ROCKWELL (SCENIC DESIGN)
Broadway: Tootsie, Kiss Me Kate, Lobby Hero, She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk, and OCC awards), On the Twentieth Century (Tony nom.), You Canât Take It With You (Tony nom.), Kinky Boots (Tony nom.), Lucky Guy (Tony nom.), and Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC noms.). Off-Broadway: A Bright Room Called Day, Shakespeare in the Park. Founder and president of Rockwell Group, an architecture firm. Honors: AIANY Presidentâs Award, Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, Presidential Design Award.
LINDA CHO (COSTUME DESIGN)
Broadway: Grand Horizons; Anastasia (Tony nomination); Great Society; A Gentlemenâs Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award, Henry Hewes Award, Outer Critics Nomination); The Lifespan of a Fact; Velocity of Autumn. Her extensive body of work includes productions at acclaimed theaters and opera companies across the country and around the world. Currently residing in New York City, this Korean-born Designer is the proud recipient of the Theatre Development Fundâs Irene Sharaff Young Master Award; served as the American costume design curator for the International Prague Quadrennial; has been honored with the Ruth Morely Design Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women and is on the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama.
KENNETH POSNER (LIGHTING DESIGN)
Second Stage: Parallelogram, Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, Good Boys and True, That Championship Season, Time On Fire, and Spiked Heels. Selected Broadway credits: Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, War Paint, Tuck Everlasting, On Your Feet, If/Then, Kinky Boots, Pippin, Cinderella, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Legally Blonde, The Coast of Utopia - Shipwrecked, Other Desert Cities, The Merchant Of Venice, Side Man, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Wicked. He is the recipient of the TONY, Drama Desk, Outer Criticsâ Circle, Lucille Lortel and OBIE Awards.
BRAY POOR (SOUND DESIGN)
Broadway: True West, The Glass Menagerie, The Real Thing, in the next room, American Plan. His sound and music have been heard in regional theaters all over the country as well as internationally. In New York, he has worked in numerous Off-Broadway theaters on dozens of plays; several Lortel and Drama Desk nominations; Obieâs for Annie Bakerâs John, and Sustained Excellence in Sound Design.
PATRICK J. ADAMS, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, AND JESSE WILLIAMS ON THE TODAY SHOW
PATRICK J. ADAMS, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, AND JESSE WILLIAMS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA
JESSE WILLIAMS ON THE DAILY SHOW
JESSE WILLIAMS ON LIVE WITH KELLY AND RYAN
A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD GREENBERG
Take Me Out originally premiered in 2002 but feels contemporary as ever. Its themes of sexual and racial prejudice, identity politics, and pursuit of community speak just as powerfully to todayâs world as they did initially. How does it feel for you to return to the play at this moment, almost twenty years later?
People have been saying that and when we first started talking about a revivalâ maybe five years agoâ this contemporary quality wasnât what anyone expected and, frankly, itâs a deeply unpleasant fact. Iâd looked forward to seeing in the play how different everything had become, and in a relatively short time. Iâm much more interested in the pastness of the past than in its similarity to the present. The idea that everything is just a version of ourselves doesnât strike me as especially useful. And of course things are different, but not in the ways or direction that Iâd anticipated. Marshall McLuhanâs famous insight, that technology is an extension of the nervous system, has asserted itself in an aggravated way. This story today would exist in the roman forum of immediate public opinion with all its rage and sleazy moral superiority. When the play was first produced, it was understood to take place in the present or very recent past, the early 21st century. Now weâre backdating it to the mid-nineties, which is where it always belonged anyway.
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At the heart of the play is one of the most authentic and enchanting love stories that will turn even the most sports-aversive theater goer into a baseball convert and believer. How did that romance begin for you personally and what was the process of bringing it to life in this play?
Iâd always had trouble getting through August. The oppressiveness of the weather made it hard for me to concentrate or feel hope. One night in1999, I was looking for something to watch on TV and found a Yankees game. Iâd paid attention to the World Series in â96 and â99 and enjoyed it so I thought why not? I decided to keep at it. It was passive and easy and focused my time in a way that staved off despair. Also, baseball contained a lot of information, which made it like research and I always find research involving. After about a week, I was completely dominated. I have a tendency to be serially mono-topical but this was different. There was some unexpected emotional well being tapped. Growing up, I never paid attention to baseball even though it was everywhere in my house. Somehow it must have seeped in. The thing is, I was pretty well satisfied at the timeâ I wasnât searching for something to fill some perceived emptinessâ but baseball ended up permeating everything for me. I didnât write the play because I wanted to write a play about baseball but because writing plays is what I do and baseball was all I could think about. Using it for a play made me feel that I was still a functioning worker and gave me all the excuse I needed to read and watch everything on the subject I could lay my hands on, this total immersion. Even twenty years later, I find this peculiar.
The action of the play ignites around the coming-out story of a fictional major league baseball player, Darren Lemming. What inspired the narrative and how did you craft Darrenâs teammates and shape the characters of the play?
I was pretty besotted but I didnât want to write a valentine because I donât think those turn out well.
Then two things happened. John Rocker, a star relief pitcher for the Braves, gave this incendiary interview in which he slagged just about everybody who didnât share his ethnicity, sexual bent, and regional affiliation. And Billy Bean, a retired major league utility player, came out, saying he felt he wouldnât have been able to stay an active player unless heâd remained closeted. He also suggested that only a superstar on a Jeter-like scale could have managed it. I thought those two ideas working in opposition would hold in check any tendencies Iâd have to gush. Kippy was based on what John Olerud, the Mets first baseman, looked like before I heard John Olerud speak. The other characters just started talking and there they were.
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How has your writing process changed in the years since you wrote Take Me Out? How has it remained the same?
I donât know that I have anything as disciplined as a process and if I do, I doubt itâs changed much. I actually like writing. This makes people suspicious of you but itâs the case. I like the first part where itâs free and wasteful and associative and sometimes gleefully bad. Then I like when you read back what youâve written and something that is a thing starts to emerge from it. Then I like the slightly distanced, cerebral part where youâre your own editor and you find ways to make what youâve spawned communicative. People are sometimes distrustful of craft, but I enjoy the way it makes me feel that I possess a body of knowledge and some techniqueâ that Iâm doing a genuine job, like an actuary or a taxidermist.
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What about the play are you most excited to explore in this new production?
Not any one thing. The first production was wonderful. I have an uncharacteristically sunny confidence that this one will be wonderful, too, but very different. Itâs that, I guessâ to see a minimally-altered script beautifully realized yet unnervingly different