Lyndon B. Johnson Play THE GREAT SOCIETY to Open Off-Broadway at Clurman Theatre Tonight

ALBERT PODELL and THE YORK SHAKESPEARE COMPANY are pleased to announce the world premiere production of Alexander Harrington's The Great Society, directed by Seth Duerr. The Great Society will play a four-week limited engagement at the Clurman Theatre (Theatre Row: 410 West 42nd Street, NYC). Performances began Saturday, August 3 and continue through Saturday, August 24. Opening Night is tonight, August 8 (8 p.m.).

Thrust by the assassination of John Kennedy into the office he always wanted, LynDon Johnson manipulates, seduces, and strong arms senators into ending legal segregation and waging war on poverty. But in an effort to protect himself from charges of weakness that could be used to block his domestic programs, Johnson escalates U.S. involvement in Vietnam into a full-scale war, which costs him his funding, his prestige, his power, his people, and his dreams for creating The Great Society.

Alexander Harrington is the son of Michael Harrington, author of The Other America, (which is said to have sparked the Kennedy administration's interest in fighting poverty), consultant in drafting LynDon Johnson's War on Poverty legislation, adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr., and socialist activist. Alexander Harrington's interest in LynDon Johnson was inspired by his father's comment, 'Jack Kennedy was a dilettante when it came to poverty; LynDon Johnson was serious about doing something for the poor of this country.'

In 2013, two new plays about President LynDon Johnson, Alexander Harrington's The Great Society and Robert Schenkkan's All The Way are being produced. (For details, see the New York Times 'LynDon Johnson is the Subject of Dueling Plays' by Patrick Healy.) Renewed interest in LBJ has been sparked by the immediate urgency of his legacy: Harrington points out, 'On June 25, 2013, The Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, which Johnson crafted, sent to Congress, and shepherded to passage. During the past presidential election, legislatures in more than ten states sought to purge voter rolls and pass new voter ID laws in a thinly-veiled attempt to disenfranchise people based on race, ethnicity, and income. Without the Voting Rights Act, the American people would likely not have been able to elect their first African-American president. Obama's Affordable Care Act is the first law to extend healthcare coverage to more Americans since Johnson's Medicare. LBJ's War on Poverty ended without a victory, with the result that today the gulf between the wealthiest and the poorest of our citizens is greater than ever. By winding down the U.S. war in Afghanistan and by avoiding major involvement in wars Libya, and Syria, Barack Obama has shown that he learned a valuable lesson from the tragedy of LBJ.

The production stars Mitch Tebo* (Classic Stage Company: The Revenger's Tragedy, The Dumb Waiter) as LynDon Johnson, Elena McGhee* (CSC, Blue Bloods, Louie) as Lady Bird Johnson, Yaakov Sullivan* (Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse) as Richard Russell, James Lurie* (TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as J. William Fulbright, Curtis Wiley* (Broadway Nat'l. Tour: The Lion King) as Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles Gray* (Broadway: The Color Purple, Grease) as Bayard Rustin, Reed Armstrong* (Broadway: Miss Saigon) as Robert McNamara, Charles F. Wagner IV* (Regional: The Tempest, Hamlet) as Hubert Humphrey and Seymore Trammell, Robert Ierardi* (West End: West Side Story) as Everett Dirksen and Nicholas Katzenbach, Jeff Burchfield* (Metropolitan Opera, Ensemble Studio Theatre) as Strom Thurmond and George Wallace, and Mac Brydon* (Film: Lipstick Jungle) as Jack Valenti and Wayne Morse.

The production features scenic design by Michael Minahan, costume design by Sean Sullivan, and lighting design by Dana Sterling. Preesa Adeline Bullington is the props designer, John D. Ivy is the composer/sound designer and Kristine Schlachter* is the production stage manager.

*Appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. An AEA-approved Showcase.

The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

THE GREAT SOCIETY plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, August 24:
Thursdays at 8 p.m.
Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 3 p.m.

There are two additional matinee performances on Saturday August 17th and August 24th at 2 p.m. The performances on Thursday August 15th and additional performance on Wednesday August 21st are sold out.

Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Row Box Office, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.