ZACH Theatre to Stage Texas Premiere of Tony-Winning Play ALL THE WAY

ZACH Theatre has announced the newest addition to its 2014-15 Season - The 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Play- ALL THE WAY. Based on Lyndon Baines Johnson's prolific first year as President, ALL THE WAY is written by native Austinite, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan and features a cast of 20 actors depicting many of the 21st Century's most famous leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., J. Edgar Hoover, Governor George Wallace, Senator Hubert Humphrey, Secretary of Defense Robert J. McNamara and President Johnson himself. Playing at ZACH's Topfer Theatre in Austin, TX, April 8 - May 10, 2015, Schenkkan's play brings to vivid life a crucial turning point in American history. ZACH Theatre's production, directed by Dave Steakley, will be the premiere performance of this play in President Johnson's home state of Texas.

November, 1963. An assassin's bullet catapults Lyndon Baines Johnson into the presidency. A Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite, this charismatic, conflicted Texan hurls himself into the passage of the Civil Rights Act-a tinderbox issue emblematic of a divided America-even as he campaigns for re-election in his own right, and the recognition he so desperately wants. In Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Robert Schenkkan's vivid dramatization of President Johnson's first year in office, means versus ends play out on the precipice of modern America. ALL THE WAY is a searing, enthralling exploration of the morality of power. It's not personal, it's just politics.

"I have been following ALL THE WAY from the moment I saw it's spectacular premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 2012, and have been in conversation with native Austinite playwright Robert Schenkkan ever since about adding it to ZACH's season. This play became the must-see hit of the Broadway season, and I am so delighted that we will be the first Texas theatre to produce this important work about the most influential Central Texan of our lifetime. The portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson is unforgettable and even though we know the outcome, the play is gripping, suspenseful and so timely," said Dave Steakley, Producing Artistic Director at ZACH Theatre.

All the way enjoyed critical success in 2013 earning the Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critic's Circle Awards for Best Play. In 2014, ALL THE WAY earned the Tony Award for Best Play.

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