NETWORK at The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre

*NETWORK* by Lee Hall based on the Paddy Chayefsky film American Treasure. Adapted from the 1976 film which had an Academy Award–winning screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky. “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Howard Beale, beloved and trustworthy news anchorman, isn’t pulling in the viewers anymore. In his final broadcast he unravels live on screen. But when the ratings soar, the network pounce on their newfound populist prophet, and Howard becomes the biggest thing on TV. The audience becomes part of the play both as diners and a studio audience. The distance between fact and fiction is reduced, mimicking the blurring of truth and fiction in contemporary news media.