Setting the 2nd Stage: An Interview With Dale Albright

We asked 2nd Stages producer Dale Albright to answer a few questions about his production of Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg. Here's what he had to say... 

Dale Albright

Dragon: How did you first encounter Take Me Out? 

Dale: I had the pleasure of the seeing the Broadway production of Take Me Out in 2003. From the moment I saw it, it was a show that I always hoped I would be involved in someday.

Dragon: You’re the first 2nd Stages producer who’s not also directing. You’re an excellent director yourself, so what made you want to take on the role of Mason and not want to direct? 

Dale: Since seeing that production over 10 years ago, this is a role that I have always wanted to play… in many ways I have felt like I was born to play the part. It has such a deep connection to me… like nothing I have ever experienced before or probably ever will again. When Meredith talked to me about the possibility of participating in the 2nd Stage Series, the chance to play this role brought me to tears. To say this is a passion project, is a vast understatement. There’s really no way I could be involved in this production and not play Mason.

Dragon: Why did you choose Ken Sonkin to spearhead this production? 

Dale: Things have a way of working out. Honestly, since this play is so full of testosterone, it had been my original intention to have a woman direct the show. I talked to a few colleagues (some women, some not) but for a variety of reasons, they didn’t pan out. At this point, I truly can’t imagine anyone but Ken shepherding the project. I have known him for years and have always known him to have the exact mix of spirit needed for this kind of show: empathetic, a person of strong convictions, a team player, fun and all around good guy. He has a passion and knowledge for baseball and the art. As I am answering this question, I find myself getting very emotional, actually (and, like Mason: “I never cry about anything!”). I’m just so thankful that he was the person to help bring this project to life.

Dragon: The play, while written more than ten years ago, has become incredibly relevant this year in light of the announcement and then draft of Michael Sam. Has this affected your take on the production at all? 

Dale: Who would have known 10 years ago that this play would become even more “real” as time has progressed? Recent developments such as Michael Sam (and the N

BA’s Jason Collins), not to mention the fact that the national tide is definitely turning in terms of gay marriage, were definitely parts of the decision to place the setting of the play in current day.

Dragon: What have you all been doing to get into a baseball state of mind? 

Dale: Baseball seems to be everyone I turn lately. I subscribe to a magazine called Mental Floss, which had a big baseball theme in its latest issue chock full of interesting trivia and stories about the history of baseball. Netflix even has a baseball on its movie jackets this month. For me, when channel surfing I would usually skip any baseball. Now I take them in. But the icing on the cake was that as a cast and crew we went to a local batting cage where we were trained by pros on pitching, catching and batting. And even I, who doesn’t have to touch a bat in the show, literally stepped up to the plate.

Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg plays in downtown Redwood City July 10 - 20th. For more information about the production, or to buy your tickets, please visit www.dragonproductions.net. 

50 Shades of Little Dog Laughed

I was doing some research on The Little Dog Laughed for some background and ran across an interview with the playwright, Douglas Carter Beane, from 2009. Here's the excerpt that initially interested me.

Julie White won a Tony for playing the ruthless agent in Little Dog Laughed who's desperate to keep her movie star client in the closet. 
Which, by the way, is so dated!  I joke. Certain reviewers say the play is so dated and I think, "Do you want the list?" What I was making fun of was the rules. At one point, the character says,  "I think I want to come out as a gay actor" and his agent says, "Are you British?  Are you knighted? If not, shut up!"  Now you can be on television, but you have to be the comedic character, you can't be the romantic character. So there are certain rules to it. 

And I was feeling that as a culture, maybe we've made progress in this arena. Neil Patrick Harris is probably the most visibly "out" actor in Hollywood, and he's been terrifically successful on the television comedy How I Met Your Mother as (straight) lothario Barney Stinson. Matt Bomer, the leading man on the cable television show White Collar,  recently came out as a happily partnered gay man in a long term relationship. He plays the (straight) hunk Neil Caffrey on his show to little outrage. Or so I thought until I read an online rant by Brett Easton Ellis, the author of, among other novels, American Psycho.

Here's the backstory. Ellis was up to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the book Fifty Shades of Grey (and we're not even going to talk about that). Ellis had been publicly talking about how much he wanted the job, was fantasy casting online with his fans, and so on. Then Ellis announced that he'd met with the producers and he was out of the running. A number of ladies are suggesting that Matt Bomer could easily take on the lead role of Christian Grey. Ellis started Tweeting that, basically, no, Bomer couldn't be Christian Grey because he "comes off totally gay in White Collar." He then said "I am NOT discriminating Matt Bomer because of his sexuality. Fifty Shades of Grey demands an actor that is genuinely into women. Get it?!?" Ellis also Tweeted that "Hollywood is the most homophobic place in the entire world."

So maybe Beane's 2009 interview stands.

I think it's kind of funny, Christian Bale played Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of American Psycho and nobody thought "you know, he's not really a serial killer." We have actors regularly playing superheroes, vampires, doctors, and scientists and nobody bats an eye. (I mean, Denise Richards played a nuclear physicist named Christmas Jones in that James Bond movie.) It's called acting - you're playing a part. Does an actors' personal life really matter? If a woman hasn't had children should she never play a mom? Where's the distinction made? Why is it that "playing it straight" still raises some eyebrows?

Watch the play and tell me what YOU think.




[ Image 1 | Image 2 ]