Gay writer’s play gets all-star cast

A benefit staged reading of 8, Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black’s play about California’s Proposition 8 trial, has garnered an all-star cast for its debut next month.

US gay magazine The Advocate reports the gay writer has managed to attract the likes of Cheyenne Jackson, Marisa Tomei, Morgan Freeman, Rob Reiner, Christine Lahti, and Anthony Edwards to take part in the event.

Described as “an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the case filed by American Foundation for Equal Rights to overturn Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California”, Black, who won an Academy Award for his acclaimed Milk screenplay, used the actual trial transcripts, firsthand observations of the courtroom drama, and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families for the script.

The one-night-only reading will be directed by Tony Award–winning actor and director Joe Mantello and take place at the Eugene O’Neill Theater in New York City on September 19.

Black’s latest film work has been the Leonardo DiCaprio-led J. Edgar Hoover biopic, J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood and due for release in November.