8 (play)

8
Official Poster
Written by	Dustin Lance Black Kate Sullivan Gibbens
Date premiered	September 19, 2011 (Broadway) March 3, 2012 (worldwide broadcast)
Place premiered	Eugene O'Neill Theatre Ebell of Los Angeles broadcast live on YouTube
Subject	Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial reenactment using original court transcripts and first-hand interviews of the people involved
Genre	verbatim theatre documentary theatre
Official site

8 is a 2011 American play that portrays the closing arguments of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal trial that led to the overturn of Proposition 8, an amendment banning same-sex marriages in California. It was created by Dustin Lance Black in light of the court's denial of a motion to release a video recording of the trial and to give the public a true account of what transpired in the courtroom.

The play is written in the style of verbatim theatre reenactment, using transcripts from the trial, journalist records, and media interviews from the plaintiffs, defendants and proponents involved. 8 first premiered on September 19, 2011 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City, and later broadcast worldwide from the Ebell of Los Angeles on March 3, 2012.^[1][2] Black brought the play to San Francisco, the home of the court case on which the play was based, on October 7, 2012 for a one-night-only reading at the ACT Theater.^[3] A cast reception following the reading included an appearance by the trial judge, Vaughn Walker. On October 22, 2012, another one-night-only reading was performed at the downtown Crest Theater in Sacramento, California, U.S.^[4]

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact, sponsors of the play, have licensed the play for readings nationwide on college campuses and in community theaters free of charge, as an educational tool.^[5]

A radio adaptation was broadcast on JOY 94.9, an LGBTIQ community radio station in Melbourne, Australia, on March 27, 2014.

Context

In May 2009, AFER filed a lawsuit, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of plaintiffs, two same-sex couples, to challenge a voter-approved constitutional amendment, known as Proposition 8, that eliminated same-sex couples' right to marry in the state.^[6][7] The same-sex couples were represented by David Boies and former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, two high-profile attorneys who opposed each other in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore.^[8]

Cast and characters

The following is a list of the cast of characters, along with the actors that portrayed them in the play's premieres.

Character	Description	Broadway (2011)	Los Angeles broadcast (2012)	Sacramento (2012)
The Court
Vaughn Walker	Judge[9]	Bob Balaban	Brad Pitt	Christopher Cabaldon
Theodore Olson	Lawyer for Plaintiffs[9]	John Lithgow	Martin Sheen	Ben Patrick Johnson
David Boies	Lawyer for Plaintiffs[9]	Morgan Freeman	George Clooney	Kurt Johnson
Charles J. Cooper	Lawyer for Defense[9]	Bradley Whitford	Kevin Bacon	Matt K Miller
Court Clerk[9]		Kate Shindle	Vanessa García	Jessica Goldman
The Plaintiffs
Kris Perry[9]		Christine Lahti		Unknown
Sandy Stier[9]		Ellen Barkin	Jamie Lee Curtis
Spencer Perry	Son of Plaintiff[9]	Jay Armstrong Johnson	Bridger Zadina	Austin Laut
Elliot Perry	Son of Plaintiff[9]	Ben Rosenfield	Jansen Panettiere	Grant Laut
Jeff Zarrillo[9]		Matt Bomer		Thai Rivera
Paul Katami[9]		Cheyenne Jackson	Matthew Morrison	Evan Brienza
Witnesses for Plaintiffs
Nancy F. Cott, Ph.D.	Testified on the history of marriage[9]	Yeardley Smith		Robin Hushbeck
Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D.	Testified on the nature of homosexuality; sexual orientation[9]	K. Todd Freeman	Rory O'Malley	Michael RJ Campbell
Ilan Meyer, Ph.D.	Testified on minority stress; stigma impacts; discrimination[9]	Anthony Edwards	Jesse Tyler Ferguson	Eason Donner
Gary Segura	Testified on the vulnerability of gays and lesbians in the nation's political process[9]	Stephen Spinella	James Pickens, Jr.	Nanci Zoppi
Ryan Kendall	Testified on being forced by parents to undergo "conversion therapy" as a youth[9]	Rory O'Malley	Chris Colfer	Patrick Burns
Witnesses for Defense
David Blankenhorn	Testified on marriage being a socially-approved, sexual relationship between man and woman[9]	Rob Reiner	John C. Reilly	Steve Minnow
William Tam	Testified on same-sex marriage leading to polygamy, pedophilia, and incest[9]	Ken Leung	George Takei	Ben Phillips
Other characters
Evan Wolfson	Founder of Freedom to Marry[9]	Larry Kramer	Cleve Jones	George Raya
Maggie Gallagher	NOM President (opponent of same-sex marriage)[9]	Jayne Houdyshell	Jane Lynch	Janis Stevens
Broadcast Journalist[9]		Campbell Brown		Unknown

See also

• LGBTQ portal
• Same-sex marriage in the United States
• 8: The Mormon Proposition

References

1. Ng, David (March 4, 2012). "George Clooney, Brad Pitt lead all-star Prop. 8 play reading". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
2. "Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Martin Sheen headline West Coast premiere of marriage-rights play". Associated Press. March 5, 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
3. "Holland Taylor, Luke Macfarlane, and More Set for '8' Reading at ACT Tonight, 10/7". Broadway World. October 7, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
4. "Dustin Lance Black's "8" Comes to Sacramento - Sacramento Press". Sacramento Press. October 13, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
5. See
   • "8: Stage A Reading". 8theplay.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
   • Riel, Elizabeth; Hersh, Brandon (February 15, 2012). "Complete All-Star Cast for West Coast Premiere of Dustin Lance Black's "8" Announced" (Press release). American Foundation for Equal Rights. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
   • Kennedy, Mark (January 17, 2012). "'8,' Dustin Lance Black Gay Marriage Play, Goes National During 2012". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
   • Hernandez, Greg. "Dustin Lance Black's Prop. 8 play set for U.S. colleges: At least 40 schools will put on productions of 8 this year". gaystarnews.com. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
   • Long Beach, CA: "'8' The Play Brings Marriage Equality To Long Beach". lbpost.com. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
   • Sacramento, CA: "Dustin Lance Black's "8" Comes to Sacramento". The Sacramento Press. sacramentopress.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
   • Sacramento, CA: Becker, John M. "Prop 8 Play Comes to Northern California". Truth Wins Out. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
6. McKinley, Jesse (May 27, 2009). "Bush v. Gore Foes Join to Fight Gay Marriage Ban". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
7. "Complaint, Perry v. Schwarzenegger" (PDF). American Foundation for Equal Rights. May 22, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
8. Brown, Willie (May 31, 2009). "Bush–Gore legal pair push gay marriage suit". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
9. "The Characters". American Foundation for Equal Rights. afer.org. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2012.

External links

• Premiere Video – 8: A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality on YouTube
• 8, the play Archived 2014-02-11 at the Wayback Machine - Official website
• American Foundation for Equal Rights
• Transcripts from Perry Trial