Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Milk and a board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, will bring California's same-sex marriage brouhaha to the Great White Way. His new Prop 8 drama will hit the Broadway stage later this year with the title 8. New York Times reports: "Roughly a dozen people from the trial are portrayed as characters, including Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, the lawyers for the two gay couples who sued California over the ban; Charles J. Cooper, the lead defense counsel; Kristin M. Perry and Sandra B. Stier, a lesbian couple who were among the plaintiffs; and the judge, Vaughn R. Walker of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California."
Black's new work "consists mostly" of actual dialogue from the Proposition 8 trial transcripts in San Francisco. And if he cannot find enough drama inside the courtroom, plenty of it went down following the passage of the marriage ban. If you recall, everything from protests to a vividly hateful "Fuck Mormons" banner went up around the city following the days of the 2008 election.
The play, which will first be performed at a fundraiser in NYC on Sept. 19, will be directed by Tony Award-winning actor and director Joe Mantello. Casting will be announced later.
