Jse Williams on playg a gay character 'Take Me Out' |

Contents:

• JSE WILLIAMS WEIGHS ON BEG A STRAIGHT MAN PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER BROADWAY'S TAKE ME OUT
• STT ELLIS TALKS ABOUT THE BROADWAY GAY-THEMED BASEBALL PLAY 'TAKE ME OUT'
• 'GREY'S ANATOMY' STAR JSE WILLIAMS MAK A SE FOR WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS N PLAY GAY ROL HIS BROADWAY BUT, 'TAKE ME OUT'
• TAKE ME OUT REVIEW. A GAY LOVE LETTER TO BASEBALL

JSE WILLIAMS WEIGHS ON BEG A STRAIGHT MAN PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER BROADWAY'S TAKE ME OUT

His cisn to open up about his sexualy sparks a firtorm of homophobia and racism the sport, particularly his own locker room. But Williams is also engagg wh another proment topic of discsn — whether straight actors should play gay characters.

He don't nsir himself part of the gay muny, and he's stgglg wh his own inty and sense of awarens there. You were talkg about the inty issu that the play wrtl wh, and your character, Darren, has two big thgs that he's alg wh terms as a biracial baseball player who out as gay. Dealg wh tolerance and and the racism and homophobia that e up the play, do you have to parse the nuanc between those two thgs or is all one big meltg pot of horrible people?

For all the bety of a well-executed h and n and the ceremony of a home n, there is also the off-the-field snipg, a hateful Twter rant and an ocsnal work one hand, Take Me Out is the story of Mason Marzac (aka Marz, played by Jse Tyler Fergon), a gay fancial adviser whose volvement the re cint has led him, to fall love wh the game. Avery on Grey's Anatomy, who makg his Broadway but), the gay superstar and a person of lor who out the closet and the mayhem that rults.

STT ELLIS TALKS ABOUT THE BROADWAY GAY-THEMED BASEBALL PLAY 'TAKE ME OUT'

Homophobia is ont and center. He's a homophobe. You're tght to be a racist; you're tght to be homophobic.

Stori on tribalism, homophobia, hate speech hate crim lead the daily news feed, not to mentn the Twtersphere. Blatant homophobia and transphobia is rampant thanks to the lik of Republin policians like Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, Lren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and many others propagatg anti-LGBTQ hate onle.Harvey Fierste on Love, Broadway, Secrets, Addictn, and Fightg Anti-LGBTQ BigotryLast year, almost 20 years after Take Me Out was first performed, Bryan Ruby ma history as the first out gay profsnal baseball player, tellg USA Today that he wanted “to help create a world where future generatns of baseball players don’t have to sacrifice thenticy or who they really are to play the game they love.” He said, while hatg beg the closet, he had been advised to do so.

'GREY'S ANATOMY' STAR JSE WILLIAMS MAK A SE FOR WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS N PLAY GAY ROL HIS BROADWAY BUT, 'TAKE ME OUT'

The gay baseball player is not alone, isolated, bullied, rejected. The tle of the play tak on many meangs—light and dark—as the play evolv.It is easy to sell Take Me Out as “the gay baseball play.” Its central character is hot, and dog somethg admirable and historic.

But Darren is adamant that he wants normal service to ntue as much as possible; he don’t need any helpg hand, whatever the homophobia of the locker room which we see mor eptns of.The st of 'Take Me Out.' Jeremy DanielUsually, we are programmed to support the gay hero this ntext; appld their bravery, and be ennobled by the lson they may teach . Tyler Fergon plays Mason Marzac, Darren’s agent, a gay man who is more stay-at-home than partier, and— his stuffy shirt and troers—far om the ttosterone-filled, sexy client.

He tak great pri takg Darren’s lls his apartment block’s rridor when his hot gay neighbors are wh listeng distance.Jse Tyler Fergon 'Take Me Out.' Jeremy DanielTyler Fergon sketch both the edy of a sudn baseball nvert, full of newly unearthed sportg zeal, and also the genue romantic who falls for the game of baseball rather than— the hands of a lazy wrer—the hunk whose money he is lookg after. Mason don’t re about sports, ed has been alienated om them—until now.Then there is Michael Oberholtzer’s Shane Mungt, a fantastic pcher and awful human, whose sual homophobia and racism be a sendary cultural prism the play. Here aga, the play revers expectatns of what a nontatn between gay man and bigot will be about.

TAKE ME OUT REVIEW. A GAY LOVE LETTER TO BASEBALL

“Everythg buts, [’s] not a partial but, ” Williams joked wh ET about takg all off as Darren Lemmg, who cis to e out as a gay durg the height of his reer, oppose of Adams as his teammate, Kippy Sunrstrom, who warns him agast that cisn. Joan MarcJoan MarcFirst wrten 20 years ago, Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-wng play explor what would happen if a player Major League Baseball had ever e out publicly durg their reer, while also tacklg them of prejudice, race and homophobia. Illtratn by Derek AbellaThe ia of an openly gay pro baseball player is ls md-bendg now than was 2003, when Richard Greenberg’s exuberant edy “Take Me Out” ma s Broadway début.

Greenberg’s play imaged a Derek Jeter-que Adonis makg the unexpected announcement, but the most memorable role was that of a nebbishy, rhapsodic gay acuntant, origally played by Denis O’Hare.

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