“Behaviorally, Richard has given me a robust job,” explains “Take Me Out” star Michael Oberholtzer. He is referring to Richard Greenberg, who wrote the Tony-winning play about a star baseball player who comes out as gay that is currently being revived by Second Stage Theater. Oberholtzer describes Greenberg as a master “wordsmith,” but the actor is playing Shane, a pitcher of few words. The actor discusses the challenges of playing “one of the few characters that is so inarticulate and doesn’t have the words, in a word-heavy play.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Physicality is an important aspect of Shane’s presence on stage, some of which was shaped by a “baseball camp” that the entire cast participated in. But Oberholtzer also worked with a pitching coach to help craft Shane’s stance and movements as a pitcher. “There’s an identity with how he throws the ball and with his relationship to the mound,” explains the actor, who puts the moves into practice during the play.
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Pitching is Shane’s life, so his laser focus on his technique carries over to his behavior off the field. “There’s a singularity to this guy,” according Oberholtzer. “This guy throws a ball, that’s what he does. That’s the only thing he can do.” The actor watched real-life major league pitchers to cobble together the movements that would make up Shane. This included the infamous intense Max Scherzer, since the actor found it useful to study a person “who gets locked in, in this insane way.”
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One of Oberholtzer’s most intense scenes occurs after a tragic turn of events which sees Shane watch his opportunity to pitch get snatched away from him. He ends up dragged from a room, screaming “I want to throw,” unable to wrap his mind around a life that doesn’t include baseball. For Oberholtzer, this scene is akin to the “sick to your stomach feeling” one gets as they climb up a ladder to a high dive. “It’s a scene you have to submit to,” he notes of the intensity, “you have to submit to the emotions, submit to the vocal energy.” No matter how daunting this moment may be, he admits that he feels blessed with the opportunity to try his hand at such a high stakes sequence night after night. “You watch him, watch his life go down the drain,” he explains. “As an actor, it’s the best.”
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