''8'' is an American play that portrays the

closing argument A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of evid ...

s of ''

Perry v. Schwarzenegger Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

'', a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

that led to the overturn of

Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in cou ...

, an

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. The ...

banning

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

s in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was created by

Dustin Lance Black Dustin Lance Black (born June 10, 1974) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. He is known for writing the film ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...

in light of the court's denial of a

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

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 Documentary theatre is theatre that uses pre-existing documentary material (such as newspapers, government reports, interviews, journals, and correspondences) as source material for stories about real events and people, frequently without altering ...

reenactment, using transcripts from the trial,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

records, and media interviews from the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

defendants In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdi ...

and proponents involved. ''8'' first

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

d on September 19, 2011 at the

Eugene O'Neill Theatre The Eugene O'Neill Theatre, previously the Forrest Theatre and the Coronet Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 230 West 49th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and later broadcast worldwide from the

Ebell of Los Angeles The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women-led and women-centered nonprofit housed in an historic campus in the Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles, California. It includes numerous performance spaces, meeting rooms, classrooms and the 1,238-seat Wilshi ...

on March 3, 2012. Black brought the play to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, 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. A cast reception following the reading included an appearance by the trial judge,

Vaughn Walker Vaughn Richard Walker (born 1944) is an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011. Walker presided over the original trial in '' Holl ...

. On October 22, 2012, another one-night-only reading was performed at the downtown Crest Theater in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, California, U.S. The

American Foundation for Equal Rights The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) was a nonprofit organization active in the United States from 2009 through 2015. The organization was established to support the plaintiffs in '' Hollingsworth v. Perry'' (formerly ''Perry v. Brown' ...

(AFER) and Broadway Impact, sponsors of the play, have licensed the play for readings nationwide on

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

campuses and in community theaters free of charge, as an educational tool. A radio adaptation was broadcast on

JOY 94.9 JOY 94.9 (official call sign 3JOY), stylised as JOY or JOY 94.9, is a community radio station broadcasting at 94.9 FM in Melbourne. It is Australia's first and only LGBTQI+ community radio station. __TOC__ History JOY 94.9, originally incorpo ...

, a LGBTIQ community radio station in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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. The same-sex couples were represented by

David Boies David Boies (; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsof ...

and former U.S. Solicitor General

Theodore Olson Theodore Bevry Olson (born September 11, 1940) is an American lawyer, practicing at the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Olson served as United States Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel (1981–1984) ...

, two high-profile attorneys who opposed each other in the U.S. Supreme Court case, ''

Bush v. Gore ''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...

''.

Characters

The following is a list of the cast of characters, along with the

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

s that portrayed them in the play's

The Court

Vaughn R. Walker Vaughn Richard Walker (born 1944) is an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011. Walker presided over the original trial in '' Hol ...

– Judge **

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...

(Broadway) **

Christopher Cabaldon Christopher L. Cabaldon (born November 12, 1965) is a Filipino-American politician from California who served as mayor of West Sacramento. He is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. He also represents the State of California on the W ...

(Sacramento) *

– Lawyer for Plaintiffs **

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...

(Broadway) **

Ben Patrick Johnson Ben Patrick Johnson (born June 30, 1969 in Tucson, Arizona) is an American voice actor, author and blogger, Foundation Director, and human rights activist. Voice-overs Early in his acting career, he participated in voice-over workshops with Joa ...

(Sacramento) *

– Lawyer for Plaintiffs **

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...

(Broadway) ** Kurt Johnson (Sacramento) *

Charles J. Cooper Charles J. "Chuck" Cooper (born March 8, 1952 in Dayton, Ohio) is an appellate attorney and litigator in Washington, D.C., where he is a founding member and chairman of the law firm Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. He was named by ''The National Law Jou ...

– Lawyer for Defense **

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he w ...

(Broadway) **Matt K Miller (Sacramento) *Court Clerk **

Vanessa García Vanessa García Vega (born July 18, 1984 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) is an Olympic and National Record holding freestyle swimmer from Puerto Rico. She swam for her native country at the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics. García's silv ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Kate Shindle Katherine Renee Shindle (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and AIDS activist. She is currently serving as the President of the Actors' Equity Association. She was Miss America 1998 in 1998 and Miss Illinois in 1997. ...

(Broadway) **Jessica Goldman (Sacramento)

The Plaintiffs

*Kris Perry **

Christine Lahti Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (19 ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **Christine Lahti (Broadway) *Sandy Stier **

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) ** Ellen Barkin (Broadway) *Spencer Perry – son of Plaintiff **Bridger Zadina (Ebell of Los Angeles) **Jay Armstrong Johnson (Broadway) **Austin Laut (Sacramento) *Elliot Perry – son of Plaintiff **

Jansen Panettiere Jansen Rayne Panettiere (born September 25, 1994) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in films ''The Perfect Game'', '' Ice Age: The Meltdown'', ''The Martial Arts Kid'' and '' How High 2''. His elder sister is actress Hayden Panetti ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Ben Rosenfield Ben Rosenfield is an American actor and musician, best known for playing Willie Thompson on the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's period crime drama series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2013–2014). His first role was in the Off-Broadway stage adapta ...

(Broadway) **Grant Laut (Sacramento) *Jeff Zarrillo **

Matt Bomer Matthew Staton Bomer (born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is the recipient of accolades such as a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 2000, he made his television debut o ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **Matt Bomer (Broadway) **Thai Rivera (Sacramento) *Paul Katami **

Matthew Morrison Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television show ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2009–2015). He has s ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginni ...

(Broadway) **Evan Brienza (Sacramento)

Witnesses for Plaintiffs

Nancy F. Cott Nancy Falik Cott (born November 8, 1945) is an American historian and professor who has taught at Yale and Harvard universities, specializing in gender topics in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. She has testified on same-sex ...

, Ph.D. – ( history of marriage) **

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 afte ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **Yeardley Smith (Broadway) **Robin Hushbeck (Sacramento) *

Gregory M. Herek Gregory M. Herek (born 1954 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a researcher, author, and professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis (UCD). He has conducted extensive research on prejudice against sexual minorities, and coined the term ' ...

, Ph.D. – (nature of homosexuality;

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

) **

Rory O’Malley Rory James O'Malley (born December 23, 1980) is an American actor, best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Elder McKinley in ''The Book of Mormon''. He is a co-founder of the gay rights activist group Broadway Impact. Early life O ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

K. Todd Freeman Kenneth Todd Freeman (born July 9, 1965) is an American actor. He has been nominated for two Tony Awards over the course of his career and has won one Drama Desk Award. He has played supporting roles in films such as ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' (1997 ...

(Broadway) **Michael RJ Campbell (Sacramento) *

Ilan Meyer Ilan may refer to: Organization *ILAN, Israeli umbrella organization for the treatment of disabled children Given name *Ilan (name), a Hebrew/Israeli name *Ilan Bakhar, a retired Israeli footballer *Ilan Araújo Dall'Igna, a Brazilian footballer ...

, Ph.D. – (

minority stress Minority stress describes high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups. It may be caused by a number of factors, including poor social support and low socioeconomic status; well understood causes of minority stress are in ...

; stigma impacts; discrimination) **

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) ** Anthony Edwards (Broadway) **Eason Donner *Gary Segura – (vulnerability of gays and lesbians in the nation's political process) ** James Pickens, Jr. (Ebell of Los Angeles) ** Stephen Spinella (Broadway) **Nanci Zoppi (Sacramento) *Ryan Kendall – (forced by parents to undergo "

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...

" as a youth) **

Chris Colfer Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical '' Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received cr ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Rory O'Malley Rory James O'Malley (born December 23, 1980) is an American actor, best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Elder McKinley in ''The Book of Mormon''. He is a co-founder of the gay rights activist group Broadway Impact. Early life O' ...

(Broadway) **Patrick Burns

Witnesses for Defense

David Blankenhorn David Blankenhorn (born 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi) is the founder and president of the Institute for American Values and its initiative Braver Angels. He is also co-director of The Marriage Opportunity Council and the author of ''Fatherless Am ...

– (marriage is a socially-approved, sexual relationship between man and woman) **

John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in ''Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...

(Broadway) **Steve Minnow (Sacramento) *William Tam – (same-sex marriage leads to polygamy, pedophilia, and incest) **

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Ken Leung Kenneth Leung (; born January 21, 1970) is an American actor. His roles include Sang in '' Rush Hour'', Miles Straume in ''Lost'', Admiral Statura in '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', and Eric Tao in HBO's ''Industry''. Early life Leung was ...

(Broadway) **Ben Phillips

Other Characters

Evan Wolfson Evan Wolfson (born February 4, 1957) is an attorney and gay rights advocate. He is the founder of Freedom to Marry, a group favoring same-sex marriage in the United States, serving as president until its 2015 victory and subsequent wind-down. Wo ...

– Founder of

Freedom to Marry Freedom to Marry was the national bipartisan organization dedicated to winning marriage for same-sex couples in the United States. Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson. Wolfson served as president of the organiz ...

Cleve Jones Cleve Jones (born October 11, 1954) is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2020. In 1983, at the onset ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

(Broadway) **George Raya (Sacramento) *

Maggie Gallagher Margaret Gallagher (born September 14, 1960) is an American writer, socially conservative commentator, and activist. She wrote a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate from 1995 to 2013 and has written several books. Gallagher founde ...

–

NOM NOM may refer to: * National Organization for Marriage * Natural organic matter * New Order Mormons * Nickelodeon Original Movies * ''Nintendo Official Magazine'', official British Nintendo magazine; now discontinued, superseded by ''Official Ni ...

President (opponent of same-sex marriage) **

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series '' Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recog ...

(Ebell of Los Angeles) **

Jayne Houdyshell Jayne Houdyshell (born September 25, 1953) is an American, Tony-winning actress known for her performances on stage and screen. Houdyshell made her Broadway debut in the 2005 production of ''It's a Wonderful Life''. The following year she earn ...

(Broadway) **Janis Stevens (Sacramento) *Broadcast Journalist ** Campbell Brown (Ebell of Los Angeles) **Campbell Brown (Broadway)

References

External links

*
''8'', the play
- Official website
American Foundation for Equal RightsTranscripts from Perry Trial
{{Dustin Lance Black Plays by Dustin Lance Black Courtroom drama plays Plays set in the 21st century Plays set in the United States Plays based on actual events Broadway plays LGBT-related plays Plays about religion and science Docudrama plays 2008 California Proposition 8 2011 plays

Context

Characters

The Court

The Plaintiffs

Witnesses for Plaintiffs

Witnesses for Defense

Other Characters

See also

References

External links