Beyond The Page Theatre Company at West Potomac High School, with license from the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact, is proud to announce a 4 performance only reading of "8," a play chronicling the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and AFER Founding Board Member Dustin Lance Black.
"8" is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Hollingsworth v. Perry), the case filed by AFER that successfully overturned Proposition 8and restored the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California. Black, who penned the Academy Award-winning feature films Milk and J. Edgar, based "8" on the actual words of official trial transcripts, first-hand observations of the courtroom drama and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families. "8" had its Broadway world premiere on September 19, 2011, at the sold-out Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City. The production brought in over $1 million to support AFER's efforts to overturn Prop. 8 in federal court. "8" then had its West Coast premiere at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday, March 3, 2012, in Los Angeles. The benefit reading featured an all-star cast led by Golden Globe Award-winner and Academy and Emmy Award-nominee Brad Pitt as United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker; and Academy and Golden Globe Award-winner and Emmy Award-nominee George Clooney and Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Martin Sheen as Plaintiffs' lead co-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson. The benefit reading was directed by AFER Founding Board Member Rob Reiner, and raised more than $2 million for the case that restored marriage equality in California..Videos