Photo Flash: First Look at CCCT's ALL THE WAY

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) presents All the Way, directed by CCCT Artistic Director Marilyn Langbehn. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan's "action-packed, thoroughly gripping...jaw-dropping political drama" (Variety) about the first year of Lyndon Johnson's presidency plays April 12 through May 5 at CCCT. For tickets and information visit the theatre's website at www.ccct.org or call 510.524.9012.

The company of All the Way features John Hale as LBJ and Khary L. Moye as Martin Luther King, Jr. Both actors have worked with director Langbehn on portrayals of historical figures of previous productions; Hale as ex-President Richard Nixon in the Bay Area premiere of Frost/Nixon at Douglass Morrison Theatre, and Moye as Dr. King from CCCT's critically-acclaimed production of The Mountaintop.

Others in the 21-person ensemble include Mick Renner as Sen. Richard Russell, Kim Donovan as Lady Bird Johnson, Jeremy Cole as Walter Jenkins, David Bogdonoff as Hubert Humphrey, David Ghilardi as J. Edgar Hoover, Terrance Smith as Ralph Abernathy, Michael Sally as George Wallace, Kimberly Ridgeway as Coretta Scott King/Fanny Lou Hamer, Laszlo Horner as Robert S. McNamara, Susan Monsøn as Muriel Humphrey, Umi Grant as Stokely Carmichael, Edward Pieczenik as Strom Thurmond, Richard Friedlander as Everett Dirksen, Aaron Jones as Bob Moses, Jay Krohnengold as "Judge" Smith, James McGarry as Deke DeLoach, Jason Berner as Stanley Levison, Will Robinson as Roy Wilkins, and Ben Knoll as Sen. James Eastland.

The production's design team includes scenic designer Katie Whitcraft, costume designer Dedra Britt, lighting designer Courtney Johnson, sound and projections designer Michael Kelly, and props designer Devon LaBelle. Stage Manager for All the Way is Mackenzie Laurel Orvis.

Commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and winner of the Tony and Drama Desk awards for Best Play, Robert Schenkkan's All the Way is a riveting look at the morality of power as it chronicles the critical year in American politics from the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 to the landslide election of Lyndon Johnson in November 1964. Johnson's masterful manipulation of the rules of the Senate in the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Bill; the murder of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner during Freedom Summer; the Gulf of Tonkin incident; and the defection of the Southern states, led by Strom Thurmond, to the Republican party; test the mettle of the "accidental" president as he works feverishly to enact his legislative agenda before time runs out.

Photo Credit: Richard Tamayo