[NEohioPAL] Theatre 8:15 Presents: 8 The Play

[Vanbrujah]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 24, 2012


Press Contacts:
Sergio Iriarte
(330) 701-0814
siriarte at neo.rr.com


 
THEATRE 8:15 ANNOUNCES READING OF DUSTIN LANCEBLACK’S NEW PLAY “8”
Theatre 8:15 Joins Nationwide Productionsof Landmark Marriage Equality Play by Academy Award-Winning Screenwriter of Milk& J. Edgar
 
Green,Ohio – Theatre 8:15, withlicense from the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and BroadwayImpact, is proud to announce a one-night-only reading of “8,” a play chronicling the historic trial in the federalconstitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8, written by AcademyAward-winning screenwriter and AFER Founding Board Member Dustin Lance Black. 
 
“8” is anunprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the case filed by AFER to overturnProposition 8, which stripped gay and lesbian Californians of the fundamental freedomto marry.

Black, who penned the AcademyAward-winning feature film Milk and the film J. Edgar,based “8” on the actual words of the trial transcripts, first-handobservations of the courtroom drama and interviews with the plaintiffs andtheir families.  
 
Theperformance will be held on Saturday, July 14th at Theatre 8:15,4740 Massillon Road in Green. Curtain time is 8:15 pm. The performance will be followed by a talk-back with the castand community members. Tickets are $5.00
 
“8” had its much-heralded Broadway world premiere on September 19, 2011,at the sold-out Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York City.  The production broughtin over $1 million to support AFER’s efforts to achieve full federal marriageequality.  
 
“8” had its West Coast premiere reading at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre onSaturday, March 3, 2012, in Los Angeles.  The West Coast premiere reading of “8”featured an all-star cast led by Golden Globe Award-winner and Academy and EmmyAward-nominee Brad Pitt as United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker;and Academy and Golden Globe Award-winner and Emmy Award-nominee George Clooneyand Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Martin Sheen as Plaintiffs’ leadco-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson.  The benefit reading was directed by AFERFounding Board Member Rob Reiner, and raised more than $2 million for the fightto secure full federal marriage equality.
 
“Peopleneed to witness what happened in the Proposition 8 trial, if for no otherreason than to see inequality and discrimination unequivocally rejected in acourt of law where truth and facts matter,” said AFER Founding Board MemberDustin Lance Black.  “The goal of ‘8’ is to show the world thatmarriage equality is a basic constitutional right.  The facts are on our side and truth alwaysfinds the light.  AFER and Broadway Impact are doing all we can to helpspeed that process along.” 

Throughout 2012, AFER and Broadway Impact are licensing “8” for free tocolleges and community theatres nationwide in order to spur action, dialogueand understanding.  Most productions will be followed by a talkback wherecast and audience members can discuss the issues presented in the Perry v.Schwarzenegger trial. 
 
The story for “8” is framedby the trial’s historic closing arguments in June 2010, and features the bestarguments and testimony from both sides.  Scenes include flashbacks tosome of the more jaw-dropping moments of trial, such as the admission by theProposition 8 supporters’ star witness, David Blankenhorn, that “we would bemore American on the day we permitted same-sex marriage than we were on the daybefore.”
 
On February 7, 2012, the United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a landmark decision upholding thehistoric August 2010 ruling of the Federal District Court that foundProposition 8 unconstitutional.  TheNinth Circuit concluded:
 
“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than tolessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and toofficially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those ofopposite-sex couples.  The Constitutionsimply does not allow for laws of this sort.”
 
For ticket information, call Theatre8:15 at 330-896-0339 or go to www.theatre815.com.
 For information on how your localtheater can produce “8,” visit: www.8theplay.com
 
Follow “8”onTwitter: @8theplay or on Facebook.
 
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ABOUT THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR EQUAL RIGHTS
The American Foundation for EqualRights is the sole sponsor of Perry v. Brown, the federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8.After bringing together Theodore B. Olson and David Boies to lead its legalteam, AFER successfully advanced the Perry case through Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court ofAppeals. The Foundation is committed to achieving full federal marriageequality for all Americans.
www.AFER.org 
 
 
ABOUTBROADWAY IMPACT
Broadway Impact is a grassroots organization of the theatrecommunity and its fans mobilized in support of marriage equality. In directresponse to the passage of California’s Proposition 8 in November 2008, TonyAward-nominees Rory O'Malley (The Book of Mormon) and Gavin Creel (HAIR) andProduction Coordinator Jenny Kanelos founded Broadway Impact to engage thetheatre community in the fight for marriage equality. Recent initiativesinclude: contributing to phone bank efforts to win marriage equality in NewYork State; creating an awareness program that led to a 3,000 piece letterwriting campaign; facilitating the attendance of 1,400 supporters to theNational Equality March in Washington, D.C.; and producing a rally for over5,000 attendees in Midtown Manhattan. Broadway Impact is now committed tobringing “8,” a play about Proposition 8 written by Academy Award-winner DustinLance Black, to university and community theatres across the country in orderto inspire dialogue, understanding and action concerning marriage equality.Broadway Impact was the recipient of the 2009 Human Rights Campaign CommunityAward and proudly operates under the entity of Broadway Cares/Equity FightsAIDS.
www.BROADWAYIMPACT.com  
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