The Tony Winning Play is Back on Broadway until the first week of February, and we spoke with one of its biggest stars.
“Take Me Out” has made another triumphant return to Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre!
The play made its Broadway debut in 2003, and won the Tony Award for ‘Best Play’ that same year. After almost 20 years later, the revival opened in April of this year, and won ‘Best Revival of a Play’ in June. Its plot is a fictional story centered around a baseball team that suffers a major scandal one season. Jesse Williams is ‘Darren Lemming,’ a biracial baseball star who comes out as queer. The audience then sees just how that affects his team and his career. The play explores themes of race, sexuality, and masculinity within America. The cast additionally features Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brandon J. Dirden, Bill Heck, Carl Lundstedt, Michael Oberholtzer, Julian Cihi, Ken Marks, Hiram Delgado, Eduardo Ramos, and Tyler Lansing Weaks.
Brandon J. Dirden has an extensive career both on and off-Broadway. While additionally appearing in “Take Me Out”, the actor starred in Dominique Morisseau’s “Skeleton Crew” for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination. Dirden, an Obie award recipient, has performed in productions of “Jitney,” “Clybourne Park,” and “The Piano Lesson.” He has guest-starred in TV series such as “For Life,” “Public Morals,” and “Manifest.”
We spoke with the Broadway actor about his career and his role as “Davey Battle” in “Take Me Out.”
Jesse Williams and Brandon J. Dirden in “Take Me Out.”
The Knockturnal: How did you feel about the material the first time you read it?
Dirden: I’ve been familiar with this play since its beginning 20 years ago. It was actually one of the first plays I saw on Broadway on one of my first trips to New York. I actually saw it before I read it. I left the theater and I went to The Drama Book Shop, and I bought a copy of the play because I had to read it, because I could not believe what I was seeing and what I was hearing was actually written down. I thought those actors were making it up. It just sounded so alive and fresh. I couldn’t believe that a singular playwright had that many different opinions and voices and had actually written them down. It made me feel I was being challenged to have conflicting arguments with myself, because there’s nobody in this play who I can say is the protagonist or the antagonist.
The Knockturnal: That’s an incredible full circle moment! What is it about this show that makes it so timely?
Dirden: I think it’s because Richard Greenberg had such a curiosity for the parts of humanity that aren’t always on public display. We, as a society, shy away from complexity. The time that we’re in right now, politically and socially, in our country is a sticky area that we’re in because we just don’t have an appetite for nuance. Richard Greenberg had this curiosity to paint portraits of people who were just way more complicated than what we are typically comfortable with showing. The time we’re in now really demands that we have more complexity in our engagements and conversations if we’re going to fix all the social ills that we’re dealing with now. It just needs complexity.
The Knockturnal: This production was supposed to debut in 2020, but the pandemic stopped it. How did it feel to finally have this come to life after such a long time and see the amazing reception it has gotten?
Dirden: It feels worth it. It’s kind of magical that any play is ever successful. When you think about what goes into making a play, you have to have the right script, but then you have to have the right cast, and we had the right cast in 2019. Then, we took a two week break, and that two weeks turned into two years. The fact that everybody was able to come back is a miracle. It was just dedication that all of us had to come back and tell this story, and it was worth it in the way that it was received. Not just the Tony Awards, or the other accolades, but every night with the fans at the stage door, or the messages on Instagram or Twitter where they say how moved they were by the production. This is why I make theater.
The Knockturnal: This play is really driven by teamwork and brotherhood. How has it been acting alongside such talented men in this play such as Jesse Williams and Bill Heck?
Dirden: It’s really been a dream. Most times you don’t get to pick who you’re working with, but then sometimes you get to act alongside friends. I’ve known Bill for a long time, but I’ve never got a chance to work with him so to finally be able to share a space with him is a special treat. The same goes for Jesse, who I’ve known him socially for years, but never got to do a full production with. To be alongside him in his Broadway debut, I just sit in marvel and think about what he’s been able to do with this role. It’s just a real joy going into work every day and figuring out how to best tell this story with these men.
The Knockturnal: Now some audience members may be conflicted with your character Davey, but he’s human. That’s what this boils down to. How did you get to understand Davey, not just as a character, but as a real person?
Dirden: Unfortunately, it’s not very hard to understand where Davey’s coming from. I wish it were more difficult for me. I grew up in the South in Houston, Texas playing sports. Texas is understood as part of a very conservative, fundamental Christian part of this country. It often carries some really harmful ideologies about what that means and what it is supposed to mean to be a man, to be a Christian, and to be an athlete. I understood him immediately. I had an awareness then of how much of the bigotry that existed within religion because I grew up Catholic, but I never made my Confirmation because I couldn’t stand for it. As for Davey, I think Richard Greenberg gave a beautiful blueprint of someone who is conflicted about genuinely caring for another person, but having a very hard line in the sand when it comes to that love. It’s real and I think if we’re going to change it, we have to tell the truth about it. The truth is Davey does have the potential to love and to be loved, but is very short sighted and carries some hate in his heart where he professes to be a Christian.
The Knockturnal: What is your favorite part about performing this show?
Dirden: My favorite part is that every night the audience is different. Within the first five or ten minutes, I listen to the play on the monitors in the dressing room. I listen to see how the audience agrees. That’s the thing that we prepared the show for is to tell this story for an audience. We know what’s going to happen. They usually don’t. It’s so interesting to see the way they listen and engage with the story.
The Knockturnal: What are you hoping audiences take away from “Take Me Out?”
Dirden: I hope they take away a larger sense of themselves and their responsibility in moving our society forward. It’s not just about being entertained for entertainment’s sake. I think that this production has value and you will be entertained when you come and see it—you might even cry. However, hopefully you’re going to find ways in your everyday life to make different choices that hopefully lead to better experiences with other people who may not be like you.
The Knockturnal: You recently directed a production of “Wine in the Wilderness” at Two River Theater. What has your experience as an actor and as a director taught you?
Dirden: I definitely think one feeds into the other. I also teach at NYU Grad’s drama program. Now being involved in so many different aspects of the playmaking process from an actor to a director to now an educator gives me much more of an appreciation for the totality of the experience. I understand more of all the ingredients that are involved. Before I started directing, when I was an actor, I did my job, but I’d sit and have thoughts of the director. That wasn’t always useful as an actor to be thinking like a director because sometimes I would spend too much time focusing on things that were not my concern. Now as an actor, I understand the importance of an actor to just stay in their lane and focus on the thing that I’m hired to do. As a director, I understand the actor’s process so I understand that sometimes things are going to take time so I’m not demanding that you give me the performance on the first day of rehearsal. Then as a teacher, I understand the need to keep being curious.
The Knockturnal: Finally, “Take Me Out” wraps in February 2023! Are there any other projects of yours our readers should look out for?
Dirden: If the readers want to see me, maybe they will find me on the beaches of Costa Rica, Argentina, Hawaii, or somewhere warm with lots of sun so I can unplug. My wife has said I have to slow down and take a break. There was a point in September or October, I believe, where I was in tech rehearsals for “Wine in the Wilderness.” That was at night and during the day I’m going to rehearsals for “Take Me Out.” Then, on certain days I’m teaching. I was doing all three things in the same week.I’ve promised her that in February I’m going to take a break. I’ll still be teaching at NYU, but hopefully I can sit down somewhere and just be a parent for change.
“Take Me Out” closes February 5, 2023.