George Clooney to Lead Dustin Lance Black's '8' in LA, Mar. 2012

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed this morning that George Clooney will lead Dustin Lance Black's Prop 8 play, "8" in the show's LA premiere at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on March 3, 2012.  The show premiered with an all-star cast including  Bob Balaban, Ellen Barkin, Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown, Anthony Edwards, K. Todd Freeman, Morgan Freeman, Jayne Houdyshell, Cheyenne Jackson, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Larry Kramer, Christine Lahti, Ken Leung, John Lithgow, Rory O'Malley, Rob Reiner, Ben Rosenfield, Kate Shindle, Yeardley Smith, Stephen Spinella and Bradley Whitford on Broadway on September 19, 2011 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 

Rob Reiner, who directed the New York installment, will additionally direct the LA engagement. Proceeds from the LA reading will be granted to the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Proceeds from the New York reading similarly went directly to the fight for full federal marriage equality and to support educational efforts on the freedom to marry nationwide.

Says Clooney in The Hollywood Reporter: “It is astonishing that gay and lesbian Americans are still treated as second-class citizens...I am confident that, very soon, the laws of this nation will reflect the basic truth that gay and lesbian people -- like all human beings -- are born equal in dignity and rights.”

For the full report, click here.

"8," a new play chronicling the historic trial in the federal legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 will have its World Premiere on Broadway in a one night-only staged reading to benefit the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER). The play is written by AFER Founding Board Member and Academy Award-winning writer Dustin Lance Black and directed by two-time Tony Award-winning actor and director Joe Mantello. 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.

Following the New York debut on September 19th, AFER and Broadway Impact have been licensing "8" to schools and community organizations nationwide in order to spur action, dialogue and understanding. AFER and Broadway Impact will coordinate these staged readings across the country, so that "8" will live on beyond its September premiere.

The story for "8" is framed by the trial's historic closing arguments in June 2010, but features the best arguments and witness testimony presented by both legal teams. Scenes include reenactments of many of the well-documented jaw-dropping moments of trial, such as the admission by the Prop. 8 supporters' star witness David Blankenhorn that "we would be more American on the day we permitted same-sex marriage than we were on the day before."

AFER prevailed in federal district court when, based on the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Chief Judge Walker concluded that California had no rational basis or vested interest in denying gays and lesbians marriage licenses and thus found Proposition 8 "unconstitutional" on August 4, 2010. It is currently under appeal by the anti-marriage proponents and is being expedited through the court system at a relatively rapid pace.

Unfortunately, the American public was not given a chance to witness the historic trial because the proponents of Proposition 8 launched a number of desperate attempts to forever hide the trial videotapes. Although the trial proceedings were open to the public, and all courtroom testimony and events were thoroughly documented, the trial video most vividly compares the weakness of the proponents' arguments to the well-reasoned, valid and constitutionally-based arguments and evidence put forth by AFER's renowned legal team, plaintiffs and expert witnesses.

The trial videotapes have been kept under seal due to a federal protective order. On August 29th, 2011, AFER's legal team made a strong case for the full and unedited release of the trial recordings at a hearing before Chief Judge Ware at US District Court. While a swift decision is expected from Chief Judge Ware, there is no guarantee that the trial footage will ever be available for the public to see. This is precisely the reason Black wrote "8."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos