Baseball players redefined in ‘Take Me Out’

Baseball is more than a game to some people — it’s a job or career. For fans, baseball can be their entire reality, or maybe just America’s pastime.

In the Department of Theatre and Drama’s newest production “Take Me Out,” baseball plays different roles for the people in the play, even though it’s the only constant as the characters’ world changes around them.

Kippy Sunderstrom, played by graduate student Henry McDaniel, narrated the story of what he called “the whole mess.” McDaniel knows all the trouble began with the coming out of

biracial superstar Darren Lemming, played by graduate student Jaysen Wright.
The mess spirals out of control with tragic consequences once a fellow teammate makes racist and homophobic comments.

Junior Russell Stout said he enjoyed how the show grappled with issues of identity in the world of baseball.

“I just thought it was great to incorporate all the aspects of the game both on the field and off,” Stout said. “There was a lot of different diversity as far as racially, sexually — everything was all together. It covered a lot of areas, and I thought it was amazing.”

The players drew a steady stream of laughter from the audience, even during some of the play’s darker moments, when the ball players interacted on the field and in the locker room.

The all-male cast made the show unique, sophomore Charnette Batey said. The masculine nature of the play, Batey said, did not make her feel distanced from the show, nor did the shower scenes.

“I wasn’t distracted by the nudity. The play was so serious and so raw,” Batey said.
“Usually there’s a lot of different distractions in the show, but with this one I was really drawn into the story and not just the nudity that everyone’s talking about.”

Junior Gina Ricci said she really liked the play, especially the combined realms of baseball and theater.

“I liked that it was a sports-related play,” Ricci said. “It broadened the horizons of the viewers and brought a lot more people in.”