Richard Greenberg, Tony-Winning ‘Take Me Out’ Playwright, Dies at 67

Richard Greenberg, the Tony Award-winning writer of “Take Me Out,” has died. He was 67 years old.

Greenberg’s death was announced on social media by collaborators and colleagues such as Denis O’Hare and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who won Tonys for their work in the original 2003 production of “Take Me Out” and its 2022 revival, as well as director Robert Falls.

“For over 30 years, it’s been one of life’s great pleasures to know Rich and his writing. Dazzling, humane, wildly funny,” Falls wrote. “He was also one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But he wore that brilliance lightly—often cloaked in hilarity, or tossed off in the driest, most devastating line at dinner. His kindness was real. His loss is enormous.”

Greenberg’s plays were known for their wit and sophistication. They covered a wide range of topics, from a pro baseball team reacting to the presence of a gay player in the locker room in “Take Me Out” to an Upper West Side family grappling with the consequences of their bad choices in “The Assembled Parties.” Greenberg’s work, which includes “Three Days of Rain,” “Our Mother’s Brief Affair” and “The American Plan,” was frequently produced on and off Broadway, as well as at the top regional theaters. He also wrote a disastrous 2013 adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and a well-received adaptation of August Strindberg’s “Dance of Death,” the latter of which brought Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren to Broadway.

In addition to winning the Tony for best new play for “Take Me Out” in 2003, Greenberg was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for that show and for “Three Days of Rain.” Falls wrote on social media that Greenberg was working with him on a new adaptation of Philip Barry’s “Holiday” that was supposed to premiere next year at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.