Coming Out

Gary Krinke is the best director you'll never know. Residing at the greatest kept secret in Orange County, Fullerton Community College's Theater Department—which has produced such stars as Matt Lillard, Cress Williams, Robert Nuñez and seemingly all of the independent/underground theater mavericks in OC—Krinke is well-steeped in creative experimentation, from Fellini ("My father, my hero," he says) to Ken Russell to Jean Genet to Arthur Miller, Ibsen and, of course, Shakespeare. When you work for Krinke—for free, of course (what, you thought there was money in theater?)—you have to know before you come in what kind of underwear your character wears, if they have any odd proclivities, why they walk the way they do, and what their childhood was like. (Full disclosure: I worked with Krinke on several plays.) You'd also better pray the fitness gods are with you because chances are those clothes are comin' off, honey. Krinke worked for Elia Kazan back in the day, and if this man doesn't know theater, then nobody does.

Which is why the prospect of Krinke helming Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning play, is so exciting. A dramatic examination of the realities of being a gay man in major-league baseball, the play deals with a broad spectrum of sensitive issues that are best served at the hands of a sensitive director like Krinke.

Take Me Out at Bronwyn Dodson Theatre, Fullerton College, 321 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton, (714) 992-7433; theatre.fullcoll.edu. Opens Thurs., Nov. 8. Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. Call for ticket prices. This production contains nudity and is recommended for mature audiences.