The Pitt Star Patrick Ball Returns to His Theater Roots in Broadway’s Becky Shaw

You might recognize Patrick Ball as the charismatic Dr. Frank Langdon from HBO's popular show The Pitt—fans at the Hayes Theater stage door certainly do, bringing him friendship bracelets and vying for autographs following performances of Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw. But Ball's stage credits far outnumber his onscreen roles. Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens sat down with Ball to discuss the dark comedy, swapping stage stories with his The Pitt co-star Isa Briones, who is currently appearing in Just In Time, and his long road to Broadway.

Having spent a decade doing regional theater across the country, Ball says Broadway was always the dream. “I’ve taken this little unexpected detour into television and to get to come back and be part of this really phenomenal play that Gina has written—and be part of Gina’s Broadway debut—I’m spoiled rotten.”

In Becky Shaw, Ball plays Andrew, a character who initially seems like the ultimate good guy before revealing a darker side. The play might be even more cutting than the ER in The Pitt, exploring the interactions between different unlikeable personalities. That complexity is exactly what drew him to the role. “He is somebody that comes in and presents as the guy that does the right thing and says the right things and is who people need him to be,” Ball says of his character. “But you learn throughout the play that he is keeping score. And there is a real reversal to that character that I thought was just really, really juicy.”

That kind of layered, slightly uncomfortable role is what Ball says he is always looking for, whether it's Andrew, Prince Hamlet or Dr. Langdon on The Pitt. “There’s more to them than immediately meets the eye,” he says of the characters he plays. “I look for characters that I read and I cringe at or I feel exposed by in some way. Langdon in The Pitt, his journey with his recovery and with his own ego, I thought was a really profound spiritual journey to admit to.” 

Becky Shaw's Andrew also felt deeply recognizable to Ball. “The sort of covert narcissism and manipulation that is at play within this seemingly nice guy was something that I have experienced in life and I know to be true about life as lived,” he explains. “And it is alive in this play.”

While The Pitt has become a major hit, Ball says it doesn't always feel that way while they are in production. “It’s a pretty spartan affair, making The Pitt,” he reveals. “We’re on the same set on the Warner Brothers lot every day for eight months and it's all hands on deck the whole time. It really is a lunch pail endeavor.” That quality is something Ball experiences working in theater, too. “I’ve been living this lunch pail life for a long time doing regional theater, living out of a suitcase for two, three months at a time and working for $700 a week,” he says. “It’s not always a glamorous affair. And I really love that.”

When it comes to idols in the industry, Ball points to Colman Domingo as one of his biggest inspirations. “He’s such a North star for me as this journeyman actor’s actor who is about the work,” Ball says. “You can tell that he is somebody that fell in love with the work of it rather than the limelight of it. And that’s a fraternity that I long to belong to.” Still, the limelight has definitely arrived. Ball says subway rides in New York look a little different these days. “Getting stopped on the street is now part of my life.”

Luckily, Langdon’s rumpled vibe means Ball can still keep things casual. “I feel very lucky to have come into the public consciousness playing a complicated, messy character like Langdon,” he says. “People catch me in the supermarket in my sweatpants and my Crocs and it’s not interruptive of their idea of me.” His Crocs might be attracting more attention than his likeness, now that The Pitt fans are showing up to Becky Shaw. “They’re bringing me Crocs Jibbitz and bracelets and stuffed animals,” Ball says. “That is just amazing. I feel very lucky.”

Ball is also getting some Broadway guidance from his The Pitt co-star Briones, who is currently appearing in Just in Time as singer Connie Francis. “She’s shown me the ropes a little bit,” he says. “It’s so cool because you get to know somebody under one context—you get to know her as Santos in The Pitt—and then to see her on stage doing the thing that she does, she’s absolutely phenomenal.”

Now that he has officially joined the Broadway community, Ball says one thing has surprised him most: the audience. “People come from all over the world,” he says. “They’re here on their vacation. They’re coming from Colorado and Canada and Hungary and they all decided to come and spend two-and-a-half hours of their vacation with us. There’s just such an energy about that and such a generosity about that that is so unique to Broadway.” The doctor is in at the Hayes Theater through June 14.

Get tickets to Becky Shaw!