Richard Greenberg is once again suffering from a case of perfect timing.

Before his play, "Take Me Out," about a gay baseball player's coming out, premiered in London in 2000, former professional baseball player Billy Bean came out, providing Greenberg with inspiration for another layer to what he always wanted to do, write a play about baseball.

Around the time of "Take Me Out's" US premiere at Manhattan's Public Theatre, the brouhaha surrounding 'Out' Magazine editor Brendan Lemon's alleged pro baseball boyfriend made headlines even without a name. Mike Piazza's subsequent coming out - as heterosexual - furthered the media flurry.

In late February 2003, former Dodger Sandy Koufax, now in his 70s, issued a blistering statement, cutting himself off from the Dodgers, as they are owned by Rupert Murdoch, publisher of the 'New York Post.'

Two months ago, the paper's gossip column hinted about a biography of a former baseball player being gay, and that the author had allegedly made a deal to keep the player's sexuality out of the book. Koufax's biography, written by Jane Leavy, had been recently published by HarperCollins, which is also owned by Murdoch's NewsCorp.

The 'New York Daily News' stated that Koufax was the player mentioned in the blind item. The 'Post' then apologized, but the 'Daily News' didn't, providing more speculation about the subject, and some free related publicity for Greenberg's play.

While former umpire Dave Pallone, former Didger and Padres player Billy Bean (both who've writtenautobiographies), and the late Glenn Burke remain the only baseball names to have come out (but after retiring), a variety of fiction books take on the theme, including "The Dreyfuss Affair," "Changing Pitches," and "Out at the Old Ball Game."

"Take Me Out's" script will be published by Faber & Faber in March 2003, adding to the literary genre.

Yet, while rumors persist about other players, none have come out while playing.

I talked with Greenberg on the phone only days before the Broadway premiere of "Take Me Out."

Also premiering in February 2003 were a San Francisco production of Greenberg's "The Dazzle," and a London restaging of Greenberg's adaptation of Strindberg's "Dance of Death," which ran on Broadway and stars Sir Ian McKellen.

Q: "Take Me Out" has received quite a bit of attention in the gay community, particularly for the extensive locker room scenes and nudity. I had a similar experience, but on a lesser scale, in the stage adaptation of PINS. But we decided not to have so much nudity. One penis, and they don't hear the lines.

Richard Greenberg: But if there are six, they listen (laughs).

Q: There was a lot of speculation on some web sites about where the best seats were for seeing the guys' bodies.

That's why I never read reviews or stuff online.

Q: But with the sensation of that, you hit on the aspect of why homophobia is still so prevalent in sports, that awkward situation perceived by homophobes, biggest problem, so why not show the situation onstage?

It's usually the first question. 'What happens in the locker room if you know a guy is gay'' On the one hand, I think I can tell that the response to the nudity is exaggerated. There's enough during the course of the play that it becomes commonplace. The most difficult thing to get out of stage nudity is an erotic one, unless you really work it somehow. But you can get other values. It becomes the sort of vernacular of the play, that there are naked guys walking around. In the context, it has varying meanings.

Q: The story continues with it.

(Director) Joe Mantello had this really good idea that worked a couple of ways. When the first guy comes out and gets naked, and claims that now that Darren Lemming (the gay team member, played by Daniel Sunjata) is there, there's a kind of anxiety about it, but he doesn't do anything to cover himself. That happens early in the play. It's a very extended scene with the guy naked. By the time the other scenes come along, it's established. It's like, 'Well, here they are.'

Q: It's also about more than sexuality and coming out. You offer a love poem to baseball in the monologues, comparing democracy and baseball.

The whole point was to write a baseball play. I had to have an angle. I knew that I couldn't write "Pride of the Yankees," or "Field of Dreams." I couldn't get away with that, but I do have an obsession with baseball. When Billy Bean came out in 2000, and he said that the only way you could stay in the game and be gay was to stay in, or if you were already a superstar. That gave me the germ of the play.

Q: Did you make many changes for "Take Me Out" from the Public Theatre version to the Broadway version?

I made a lot of changes. The third act has been somewhat restructured and re-written. It's still a three-act play, but it has one intermission. The first two acts probably seem closer to the original than the third act, but there are some natural cuts throughout. It's streamlined.

Q: So you did listen to some input, if not critics?

I listen to audiences and my director. Usually, I get to re-work a play extensively, but this time it went from London to New York in no time.

Q: Did you ever see that British rugby play, "The Changing Room?"

Yes! I did as a kid. That's why I'm so startled that people are talking about the nudity, because there was a lot more in "The Changing Room."

Q: Was that an influence on creating "Take Me Out?"

Not really, because I was only like fourteen when I saw it. I only have a vague impression of it. It was very different, an exercise in naturalism. I loved that, the vividness of the production.

Q: The character of Darren Lemming seems idealistic compared to the negative reports that Billy Bean gave. A team sport seems to require conformity. It seems idealistic that Lemming expects that no one should be concerned.

I don't know if it's idealistic. He does know it. That's what the play challenges, his personal sense of acceptance that he carries with him, that because of Darren Lemming, everything will be fine. He starts out with a sort of beholden sense of self. He does go out thinking that because of him everything is gonna be fine. It's all worked, so why not this?

Q: But Brendan Lemon and his "mystery date" hadn't been an issue then?

No, I had written the play in 2000, and his stuff happened about a year later. It was really a stunning coincidence, but at the same time, I wondered, 'Who is this guy?'

Q: There's a lot of speculation. The public, or some writers, seem fascinated by it.

You kind of wonder who this guy is, and how the hell they kept it so secret.

Q: And why is it such a big deal, when some other players seem to know who's gay?

There is that aspect of someone's life being made public, and the fan response, the press response.

Q: The feeding frenzy?

Yeah, I'd think these players want to concentrate. There are lots of reasons. Some players who are utterly fine with it and some aren't at all. I thought what was interesting was (NY Yankees pitcher) Mike Mussina's response, when asked how he would feel playing with a gay teammate, and he said, 'Well, I might already have.' I thought that was amazing, for someone like Mussina to say that, and he never says anything.

Q: So you don't see a player wanting to be categorized as a gay athlete?

"Take Me Out" is close to identity politics, or actually the classic theme of identity, but also the politics of it. The gay baseball player who comes out would be like Jackie Robinson. When he joined the Dodgers, there were scores of players in the Negro leagues just waiting for that first brave man.

Q: For now, it seems easier for some actors. Sir Ian McKellen enjoys a diversity in stage classics, and fantasy films like "X-Men" and "Lord of the Rings" while being out and proud.

It's perfect though, because he's this very sweet-natured bad boy. He's teasing and wicked in a way, but really a nice man. That surprised me, because from my parochial American background, I didn't expect English actors to have this verve. He's tremendously approachable. It was amazing to watch him work, being inventive and daring all the time.

Q: Being a gay playwright, do you feel a need to write about gay themes?

It depends what piques my interest, enough to merit a play. I don't calculate it. It's whatever the character is. Writing about a baseball player was enormously transgressive for me. But I realized that writing is all about that. All you ever do is write about what you don't know, or who you aren't. That's the whole point, to go outside the lines of yourself.

Jim Provenzano
Jim Provenzano is the author of PINS, a novel about gay high school wrestlers. In 2002, he adapted PINS to the stage for New Conservatory Theatre Center. Check out his website Jim Provenzano's Sports Complex