Foothills Theatre Goes Balls to the Wall
By Tine Roycroft

Foothills Theatre has packed its current season with a number of must-see productions. There’s the famous and fabulous “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and a favorite of all ages, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Certainly, the singing and choreography is sure to please the faithful theater-goer who croons musical theatre tunes in the shower. But what’s in store on the stage for the rest of us?

Artistic Director Russell Garrett has the answer ~ a little show called “Take Me Out.”

This 2003 Tony Award winner takes place in the major leagues where a handsome baseball hotshot named Darren Lemming is at the top of his game and in the middle of an amazing season. With fame, fortune and good friends by his side, Lemming feels that he is unstoppable. And decides to come out as gay.

“The pivot point at which the plot turns happens right out of the gate,” Garrett said. “The team is a fictitious team, but modeled after the New York Yankees.” According to Garrett, when the show came out on Broadway in 2003, many people compared the character of Lemming to Derek Jeter.

The play explores the aftermath of Lemming’s announcement of his homosexuality ~ his teammates now wonder how they should act while showering around him or how to interpret simple interactions on the field. And within this confusion, the audience is introduced to another character: accountant Mason Marzack.

“The accountant is sort of a nebbishy gay man who doesn’t know baseball,” revealed Garrett. “He’s not a fan. But from the moment he finds out that Darren Lemming is going to become a client of his, he starts to watch baseball. And over the course of the season, he becomes a huge baseball fan. In a lot of ways, the show is like a love letter to baseball.”

Apart from the emotionally complex and endearingly funny script, the innovative set will also keep both lovers of baseball and those who are vaguely aware of the sport as satisfied as if they’d been served a Fenway Frank. Garrett promises a stage that brings one right into the ball park, complete with two big scoreboards, a pitcher’s mound, the traditional green grass of the outfield and working showers for the locker room scenes.

“Just so no one is surprised,” said Garrett of the show, “there is a considerable amount of profanity because they are professional athletes. And there is full nudity in this all male cast.” Garrett noted that many audience members can be a bit turned off by the idea of cussing and nakedness, while others are quite supportive of the concept.

But the nudity is a far cry from the true reason that Garrett felt that ‘Take Me Out” should grace the stage of Foothills.

“I’m interested in a show that tells a good story,” he said. “There are a lot of theatre fans that just want a good story. But in this show, there is the element that also appeals to the gay and lesbian audience who wants to see a story that talks about something from their perspective.”

“Take Me Out” opened at Worcester’s Foothills Theatre on October 25, 2008, and runs through November 16, 2008. The timing of the show is not without its purpose, revealed Garrett.

“Just in time for the tail end of baseball season,” Garrett noted with a laugh. “I wanted to extend the season for a little longer.”

For more information on “Take Me Out” at Foothills, go to www.foothillstheatre.com/shows-events.

Pictured: Herb Newsome takes on the role of Lemming