The American Foundation for Equal Rights & Broadway Impact Announce Initial Casting for Broadway Staged Reading of Dustin Lance Black’s New Play “8”
Anthony Edwards, Morgan Freeman, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith and Marisa Tomei will appear in the auspicious one night only event September 19, 2011
New York City, NY - Today the American Foundation for Equal Rights in partnership with Broadway Impact announce initial casting for the highly anticipated one night only Broadway staged reading of “8,” a new play chronicling the historic trial in the federal legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8. The play is written by AFER Founding Board Member and Academy Award-winning writer Dustin Lance Black and will be directed by two-time Tony Award-winning actor and director Joe Mantello.
Golden Globe Award winner and four-time Emmy Award nominee Anthony Edwards; Academy and Golden Globe Award winner and Tony nominee Morgan Freeman; award-winning Broadway, television and film star Cheyenne Jackson; Academy, Emmy and two-time Golden Globe Award winner Christine Lahti; two-time Emmy Award-winning, Academy and multiple Golden Globe-nominated director and actor Rob Reiner; Emmy Award winner Yeardley Smith; and Academy Award winner and two-time Golden Globe nominee Marisa Tomei will appear in the Broadway premiere of “8.” The production is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case filed by AFER to overturn Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California.
Black, who penned the Academy-Award winning feature film Milk, based “8” on the actual words of the trial transcripts, first-hand observations of the courtroom drama and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families. The new play will have its world premiere on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York City on Monday, September 19, 2011 for an exclusive, one night only fundraiser to benefit AFER. Additional casting for the all-star benefit will be announced soon.
Following the New York debut on September 19, AFER and Broadway Impact will license “8” to schools and community organizations nationwide in order to spur action, dialogue and understanding. AFER and Broadway Impact will help produce these staged readings across the country, so that “8” will live on beyond its September premiere.