Richard Greenberg, the writer of the multi-award-winning play (inc 3 Tonys) TAKE ME OUT has just died aged 67  This extraordinary play first premiered in London. Much of the play is set in the locker room of a professional baseball team, and as such has an all-male cast that explores themes of homophobia, racism, class, and masculinity in sports.

Professional sports were (and still are!)  one of last bastions of homophobia, Greenberg said that he was inspired when  Major League Baseball (MLB) player Glenn Burke  came out to teammates and team owners in the 1970s and then Billy Bean came out in 1999 after retiring from playing in MLB for eight seasons, at the time of the writing of this play no MLB player had ever come out to the public during his career. This play is the dramatic exploration of what such an event might be like.

It wasn’t just the subject matter of the play, or the excellent writing, and some superb performances that grabbed the public’s attention, but also that most of the actors are naked.  Maybe not such an issue in London, as they are less prudish over there,  but after London it premiered Off-Broadway on September 5, 2002, at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. It made its Broadway debut on February 27, 2003, at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 355 performances and won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play. A Broadway revival opened at the Hayes Theater on April 4, 2022 and won two more Tonys.

Greenberg authored  29 other plays but this will be the one he will be best remembered for