In Los Angeles, the one-night production of the play “8,” written by Dustin Lance Black, made the lack of facts and the phenomenal acting shine through the courtroom, with many Hollywood icons playing the parts.
The intriguing actors, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon and more, kept everyone interested in the March 3 performance of Black’s “8.”
California’s Proposition 8 (Ballot title: Eliminates Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. Initiative Constitutional Amendment; called California Marriage Protection Act by proponents) was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment which passed in the November 2008 California state elections. The measure added a new provision, Section 7.5 of the Declaration of Rights, to the California Constitution, which provides that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier judge’s decision that found California’s proposed amendment banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
Black wrote a script titled “8” revolving around the trials over the controversial Proposition 8. It was all part of the West Coast premiere of “8,” a play about the 2010 federal court fight against Proposition 8.
Relying largely on transcripts from court proceedings, “8” introduces viewers to the couples who challenged the California initiative, the attorneys who argued their case and a bumbling witness who spoke out against them
It was previously reported that the writer had teamed with director Rob Reiner to make it into a film, but the project turned into a reading event with an all-star cast.
The performance that night was at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles where the real-life couples in the case, Sandy Stier (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Kris Perry (Christine Lahti), and Jeff Zarillo (Matt Bomer) and Paul Katami (Matthew Morrison), and the attorneys David Boies (George Clooney) and Theodore B. Olson (Martin Sheen) were in the audience on that night.
The lights were dim within a courtroom setting, with spot lights on two “8” signs on the back wall. There were two flags on both sides of the stand, one was an American flag and the other was a California state flag.
Real news footage starts about a minute into the play with a campaign commercial about how if voters say “YES” to Prop 8, the children in California schools won’t have to learn about gay rights.
When the lights came on, each of the cast members walked out onto the stage. Applause and cheers from the audience filled the theater with excitement.
With scripts in each of their hands, each actor began by standing, as Judge Walker (Brad Pitt) came to the podium and started the trial.
One couple has two children together; the other wants to start a family. A witness testifying in favor of the same-sex marriage ban said under oath that marriage equality was best for couples, kids and the country.
Throughout the performance the real words from the California state courtroom was shocking to hear. People were stunned that so many could be so idiotic when it came to something like marriage.
The prosecutor Bois cross examined Blankenhorn. When questions were asked to Blankenhorn, he could not answer.
“Let me try to make the question as simple as I can,” said Bois. “Have any of the scholars that you have said you relied on said in words or in substance, okay; this permitting same-sex marriage will cause a reduction in heterosexual marriage?”
“That’s ‘yes,’ ‘no, or ‘I don’t know,’” Bois said.
“I know the answer,” said Blankenhorn. “I cannot answer you accurately if the only words I’m allowed to choose from is ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I can give you my answer very briefly in one sentence.”
Throughout the production each of the cast members fully represented what happened in that California courtroom. They made it clear that the defendant’s of the Proposition 8 didn’t know what they were talking about nor did they know how to state why same sex marriage was such a horrible right.
The play ends with persecuting attorney (Martin Sheen) discussing how they will keep fighting for the rights of marriage equality.
To watch the play you can find footage of the entire reading on the American Equal Right’s YouTube website or at www.8theplay.com.
