Tag Archives: All the President’s Men

“Cosmic forces” brought actor Rob Nagle to ‘Human Interest Story’ at Fountain Theatre

Posted on January 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

Rob Nagle and Tanya Alexander in Human Interest Story.

by Gil Kaan

A stalwart member of the Los Angeles Theatre community, the multi-award-winning Rob Nagle will next be appearing on The Fountain Theatre stage in the world premiere of Stephen Sachs‘ HUMAN INTEREST STORY, opening February 15, 2020. Rob essays Andy Kramer, who just having been laid off, fabricates a letter to the editor; then, has to mastermind an elaborate charade to justify it. Rob’s HUMAN INTEREST STORY onstage accomplices include: Tanya Alexander, Richard Azurdia, Aleisha Force, James Harper, Matt Kirkwood and Tarina Pouncy.

The ever-busy Rob managed to find some time to answer a few of my queries.

What criteria do you look for in taking on a new role/character?

I try to keep a very open mind when I am first looking at a new role. I read the script, trying to keep my mind a tabula rasa, a blank slate, so that I do not have any preconceptions about what I am reading, and I can simply respond to the material. I want to see if it is a story that I would like to tell, and then I more closely examine if the character says things that I would like to say. It does not matter whether or not I agree with the character’s point of view; the story and the words just need to resonate for me. Once the part and the script have passed muster for me, I then consider the people involved in the project and the place where it will be performed. After that, I take a look at the pay. But it’s never really about the pay for me, it’s about the story.

What cosmic forces of creativity first brought you together with this new world premiere by Stephen Sachs?

The cosmic forces of creativity seem to work when you stay involved in the Los Angeles theatre community. I have admired Stephen’s work for many years now, and apparently he mine, as well. In January of 2018, he invited me to take part in a one-night-only reading of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN in the Council Chambers at Los Angeles City Hall. I believe that was our first creative foray together. In July of 2019, he asked me take part in an early read of HUMAN INTEREST STORY, then titled JANE DOE. I was reading a different role, but I loved what he was doing with this script.

If you were writing a letter of recommendation for Andy, what qualities of his would you emphasize?

His tenacity and strength of purpose. His empathy and his heart. His curiosity and searching nature. And his passion for telling stories.

What character flaws would you sugarcoat?

His pride. His ego. And the little boy who is still seeking his father’s approval.

What for you, Rob Nagle, would be the most satisfying thoughts/emotions audience leave The Fountain Theatre with after your HUMAN INTEREST STORY curtain call?

I hope all of our hearts grow a little bit while we’re all together experiencing this play. Maybe we’ll think a little differently about all those ideas we were so certain of when we walked in and sat down together, all the things we think we know about the world. I hope audiences feel an enlarged sense of compassion, greater understanding and deeper concern for their fellow human beings, no matter the color or gender or creed. We all tend to take care of our own circles of family and friends – but there are people out there who have been kicked out of their circles, or who have wandered out of them, or who have lost their connections to them. They are worthy of our care, of our attention, and even of our love. There are eight million stories in this naked city, and every homeless person you encounter can tell you one of them. I hope we start talking less, and listening a little more.

Get tickets to HUMAN INTEREST STORY

This post originally appeared on BroadwayWorld.com.

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Posted in Acting, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Hollywood, Homeless, Los Angeles, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, Social justice, stage, Theater, theatre

Tagged acting, actor, All the President's Men, Fountain Theatre, Hollywood, homeless, homelessness, Human Interest Story, Los Angeles, new play, Rob Nagle, theater, theatre, world premiere

Fountain Theatre to present celebrity reading of 1972 “The Candidate” in 2020 election year

Posted on September 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

Poster for 1972 political film “The Candidate” starring Robert Redford.

The acclaimed Fountain Theatre has obtained permission from Warner Bros to present a one-night celebrity reading of the Jeremy Larner screenplay for the Academy Award winning 1972 movie, The Candidate. The event will take place in the City Council Chamber at Los Angeles City Hall in 2020, the cast, date and time to be announced.

The celebrity reading continues the Fountain’s ongoing program created in partnership with LA City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell to bring local government, the arts community and the public together in a unique setting to address timely issues of the day. The Candidate will follow the Fountain’s hugely successful 2018 celebrity readings of All the President’s Men, starring cast members from The West Wing and Scandal, and the 2019 all-star reading of Ms. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Bellamy Young and Sam Waterston.

In the gritty, documentary-like film The Candidate directed by Michael Ritchie, Robert Redford stars as an idealistic, good-natured attorney whose high standards are soiled by his run for political office. Jeremy Larner won the Academy Award for his screenplay. The film is considered one of the top ten political movies ever made.

Fountain Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs, who directed the City Hall readings of All The President’s Men and Ms. Smith Goes to Washington, will guide the celebrity reading of The Candidate in 2020, stating “I can think of no better choice for the upcoming election year.”

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Posted in actors, arts organizations, Drama, film, Fountain Theatre, government, Hollywood, Los Angeles, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre

Tagged All the President's Men, Bellamy Young, celebrity, Fountain Theatre, Jeremy Larner, Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Hall, Michael Ritchie, Mitch O'Farrell, movie, Ms. Smith Goes to Washington, Robert Redford, Sam Waterston, Scandal, screenplay, Stephen Sachs, The Candidate, The West Wing

Cast announced for special reading of Lauren Gunderson’s ‘Natural Shocks’ at Fountain Theatre

Posted on April 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

Actresses Amy Pietz, Victoria Platt, Suanne Spoke, and Sabina Zuniga Varela will combine their versatile talents to play the same lead character in a special reading of Natural Shocks, Lauren Gunderson’s funny and powerful new play on gun violence and gun control, at the Fountain Theatre on Friday, April 20th at 11:19am. Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs directs.

The timing is intentional: April 20 is the 19th anniversary of Columbine and the day of the National School Walkout, organized by the student activists in Parkland, Florida. The reading at the Fountain Theatre starts on April 20th at 11:19am, the date and exact time of the Columbine shooting.

“The Fountain Theatre has a long history of social and political activism,” explains Sachs. “Our celebrity reading of All the President’s Men at LA City Hall and our world premiere of Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall are recent examples. With Lauren’s play, I believe we need to add our voice, as theatre artists and citizens, to the national outcry of young people across the country against gun violence and advocate for gun control in this country.”

Amy Pietz has appeared in over 300 episodes of television, most recently starring opposite Jason Alexander on Hit The Road. She was a series regular on No Tomorrow, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Aliens in America, Rodney, The Weber Show, Muscle and Caroline in the City (SAG Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy). She has had recurring or guest starring roles on: You’re The Worst, The Magicians, The Office, Trust Me, Maron, How To Get Away With Murder, Dexter, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and many others. Film roles include those in The Year of Spectacular Men, Halfway, Prom, The Pact II, Autumn Leaves, Rudy, Jingle All the Way, Dysenchanted, Jell-Oh Lady, The Whole Ten Yards, and others. Her favorite theatre credits include: Stupid Fucking Bird at the Theatre @ Boston Court (Ovation Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Award), The Boswell Sisters at The Old Globe Theatre, Christmas In Naples at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lobby Hero at the Odyssey Theatre (Ovation nominated), Fiorello and Company (Ovation Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical). Currently producing a film on gun control called Bodyman, Amy is passionate about getting guns off of our streets.

Victoria Platt is currently in Antaeus Theatre Company’s production of Native Son. THEATRE: Jelly’s Last Jam (BROADWAY), Building the Wall and Roxy in Cyrano (Fountain Theatre), Venice (Public Theater & Kirk Douglas Theatre – Ovation Award Nom), Sammy (Old Globe), Pippin (Mark Taper Forum, Asphalt (Red Cat), Atlanta (Geffen). Select TV/FILM: Major Crimes, Bones, The Mentalist, Castle, Criminal Minds and contract roles on both All My Children & Guiding Light; H4 (adaptation of Henry IV which she co-produced with Harry Lennix & Terrell Tilford) and as Josephine Baker in HBO’s Winchell. Upcoming film: #Truth (Charles Murray dir.), The Gleaner (opp. Angus MacFadyen, Harry Lennix dir.), Interference, Framed and CW’s Lucifer.

Suanne Spoke has an extensive career in theatre, television & film, appearing in the critically acclaimed film Whiplash and starring in the feature film Wild Prairie Rose, winning multiple awards on the festival circuit. On television Suanne recurred on Switched at Birth, Famous in Love and has guest-starred on many others. She can currently be seen recurring on General Hospital. She has performed at numerous theatres and has won every major acting & producing award in Los Angeles including three-time recipient of the Ovation Award/Lead Performance by an Actress. She was most recently seen in the West Coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek at the Fountain Theatre. Suanne serves on the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts, teaching acting in the Graduate Film Directing program.

Sabina Zuniga Varela, a native New Mexican based in Los Angeles, is an artist, educator and organizer committed to the path of social justice, authentic representation and storytelling. She is an award winning theatre actor with an MFA from the University of Southern. California. She also holds an MA in Special Education with a focus on twice-exceptional/gifted learning. She is currently a producing director for the LA based theatre company: By The Souls of Our Feet. Most recently she was seen on stage at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival & Portland Center Stage in the title role of Luis Alfaro’s Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles and was seen in Season 3, Episode 3 of ABC’s American Crime.

Based on Hamlet’s “To be or not to be,” Natural Shocks is a classic Gunderson play: a 60-minute tour-de-force that bursts to life when we meet a woman waiting out an imminent tornado in her basement. She overflows with quirks, stories, and a final secret that puts the reality of domestic violence and guns in America in your very lap. The play is part confessional, part stand up, and part reckoning.

“The play is written as a solo play for one actress,” explains Sachs. “I have Lauren’s permission to have four actresses read the role, as one voice. Together, they are one woman — and all women. I think having the play read by four women adds diversity, theatricality and a stylized musicality that is worth exploring.”

“I wrote the story to continue to push the narrative away from the perpetrators of gun violence and toward the people whose lives are lost, shattered, and shadowed because of it. So many of these people are women. And there is such a tight connection between violence against women and gun violence,” insisted Gunderson.

Gunderson is right: the connection between domestic violence and gun violence is well documented. More than half of the mass shootings from 2009-2016 involved a partner or family member. Nearly half of American women who are murdered are killed by their intimate partners. American women are 16 times more likely to be killed by a gun than women in other developed nations. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that the woman will be killed. In short, domestic violence and grievances against women are the “canary in the coalmine” for gun violence. Any effort to end gun violence must address domestic violence as well.

Lauren M. Gunderson is the most produced playwright in America of 2017, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award, the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, she is also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company, and a commissioned playwright by Audible. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including South Cost Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The O’Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon, which was one of the most produced plays in America in 2017. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit Pursued By A Bear, The Taming, and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists (The Revolutionists, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Bauer, Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon was released from Two Lions / Amazon in May 2017.

Reserve Seats to Natural Shocks at Fountain Theatre. National website

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Posted in Acting, actors, Arts, arts organizations, director, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, playwright, playwriting, Theater, theatre

Tagged actress, All the President's Men, Amy Pietz, Building the Wall, Columbine, Fountain Theatre, gun control, gun violence, Lauren Gunderson, Los Angeles, National School Walkout, Natural Shocks, Parkland, Robert Schenkkan, Sabina Zuniga Varela, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, theater, theatre, Victoria Platt

When City Hall and local artists work together, all citizens of our city benefit

Posted on February 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

Reading of ‘All the President’s Men’, LA City Hall, Jan 27th, 2018.

by Stephen Sachs

Los Angeles is hailed as The City of Dreams. But our one-night reading of William Goldman’s screenplay for All the President’s Men at City Hall inspired me in one way that I could never imagine.

We knew we had a good idea. The right project at the right time delivering the right message for the right reason. We knew inviting celebrity actors to participate would heighten public interest. We knew we had the ideal location in the Los Angeles City Council Chamber at City Hall. What I didn’t know, what caught me by surprise, were the men and women who work there.

The Fountain Theatre has enjoyed a longtime friendship with the City of Los Angeles. We have benefited from the generous grant support of the Department of Cultural Affairs for more than twenty-five years.

Eric Garcetti was our City Councilmember in District 13. His parents, Gil Garcetti and Sukey Roth Garcetti, are longstanding Fountain Theatre members. Eric was more than our Councilmember for twelve years. He was our friend. I am forever grateful to Eric and his staff for coming to our side at the Fountain Theatre’s moment of darkest tragedy.

Our beloved Fountain colleague Ben Bradley was savagely murdered in his apartment on New Year’s Day, 2010. We were inundated with calls and emails of condolence from the LA theatre community. Eric’s staff at Council District 13 came by our office, in person, asking, “What can we do to help?” I was blown away. We sat down together, shared memories of Ben, and planned his memorial service at the Gallery Theatre in Barnsdall Park. Eric’s office arranged for us to have access to the venue at no charge. Eric attended the memorial and spoke at the service. He showed up for us. He was there.

Eric was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2013. My wife and I happily attended his reelection swearing-in ceremony last year on the steps of City Hall. For five years, The Fountain’s City Councilmember has been Garcetti’s former District Director and senior advisor, Mitch O’Farrell.

Stephen Sachs and Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell

Mitch has always been a strong advocate for the arts in Los Angeles. For years, Mitch has championed the significance of the network of intimate theatres throughout our city. He took a stand and spoke out publicly on our behalf when we battled with Actors Equity Association over the 99-Seat Plan. He was instrumental in designating a section of Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood as Theatre Row. He knows intimate theatres enhance the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Once an actor and dancer himself, he is one of us. He gets it.

I placed a call to Mitch’s Field Deputy, Dan Halden, last year about our reading of All the President’s Men. I was adamant that the reading happen close to January 20^th, the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration. I was looking for the appropriate location. It needed it to be some place symbolic. I wanted the building itself to hold meaning, make a statement. I called Dan thinking a room at City Hall would be good. Dan agreed. I was then floored when he suggested, “You know, the City Council Chamber might be available. Your actors could sit in the Councilmembers’ chairs …” It was then that the event crystalized from an idea in my mind into something I could see.

Months of planning quickly followed. We had to move fast. The Fountain staff leaped into action. A casting director was hired. A consulting firm was brought on. Most remarkably, Dan Halden and his team at Council District 13 were hands-on, all the way. When using a City building for a public event, every detail must be worked out. Security, parking, access, maintenance, the LAPD, the Fire Department, the press, catering, the offices that oversee use of equipment. All of this was handled through a blizzard of emails, phone calls and in-person meetings with Fountain staff and CD13 personnel. Everything overseen by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell.

Receiving a grant award from the City of Los Angeles is a wonderful thing. Financial support from the city is essential and the Fountain is deeply grateful each year. All the President’s Men demanded a different kind of support from the city. It was more than just signing contracts and receiving a check in the mail. This was the rare, exhilarating experience of two teams working together, of Fountain staff and City staff rolling up their sleeves and getting the nuts-and-bolts items done. We were truly partners. Fully invested personally, professionally and ideologically. All of it executed with efficiency, good humor, and energized by knowing that we were pulling off something that had never been done before in that building.

I am so proud of our city. What other major city in the country would hand over City Hall to its artists? Would have its Councilmembers allow artists to literally sit in their seats for one night to express an urgent fundamental truth about our country through their art?

As Washington wallows mired in stagnant gridlock, the city of Los Angeles offers a lesson in public partnership to the nation. When I first called Mitch O’Farrell’s office with the idea to use City Hall as a civic performance space for this reading, the expected government response would have been “no”. Instead, carrying forward the heartfelt spirt of his predecessor, Mitch O’Farrell answered, “What can we do to help?”

I believe last Saturday night’s reading of All the President’s Men at City Hall was a watershed moment in our city’s engagement with local arts organizations. We should not let it end there, on that evening. Our hope is that we use the lessons and rewards earned from this experience to discuss more partnerships like this in the future. When local artists and city government officials work together, all citizens of our city benefit.

“Art can highlight things that need to change,” Mitch O’Farrell pointed out to the City Hall crowd in his opening remarks for All the President’s Men. “And draw parallels to historical lessons that can propel humanity forward.”

Stephen Sachs is the Co-Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre.

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Posted in actors, Art, Arts, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, government, Hollywood, Los Angeles, non-profit organization, performing arts, Social justice, Theater, theatre

Tagged All the President's Men, Ben Bradley, City Hall, Council District 13, Dan Halden, Eric Garcetti, Gil Garcetti, government, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Council, Mitch O'Farrell, screenplay, Stephen Sachs, Sukey Roth Garcetti, theater, theatre, Watergate, William Goldman

Photos: Fountain Theatre’s all-star reading of ‘All the President’s Men’ soars at LA City Hall

Posted on January 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

The company of ‘All the President’s Men’

Saturday night’s exhilarating reading of All the President’s Men at Los Angeles City Hall was an historic event. Not only was it a powerful statement advocating Freedom of the Press and honoring American journalism, it demonstrated a watershed moment in our city’s engagement with local arts organizations. Never has the City of Los Angeles handed over its Council Chamber to a theatre company and partnered with it in this way. We applaud Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell and his staff for making it possible.

The Fountain Theatre believes that events like All the President’s Men, where art and politics intersect to enhance our civic discourse, are essential to an informed society. We believe a small theatre can do big things. As Charles McNulty stated in his feature story on our event in the Los Angeles Times, “it is heartening to see an intimate theater like the Fountain advocating for what is in our collective interest as a nation.”

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Jeff Perry and Joe Morton, co-stars on ABC-TV’s hit series Scandal, took on the roles of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and anonymous source “Deep Throat,” joining alumni of The West Wing Bradley Whitford as Bob Woodward and Joshua Malina as Carl Bernstein; Richard Schiff as Post local news editor Harry Rosenfeld; and Ed Begley, Jr. as managing editor Howard Simons. The cast also featured Sam Anderson, Leith Burke, Seamus Dever, James Dumont, Arianna Ortiz, Spencer Garrett, Deidrie Henry, Morlan Higgins, Anna Khaja, Karen Kondazian, Rob Nagle, Virginia Newcomb, Larry Poindexter and Andrew Robinson. The reading was directed by Stephen Sachs, with sound design by Peter Bayne.

The reading supported, in part, the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s oldest organization representing American journalists, founded to protect journalism and dedicated to the continuation of a free press. We were honored to be joined by the Los Angeles Press Club, which supports, promotes, and defends quality journalism in Southern California with the belief that a free press is crucial to a free society. And The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, defending the fundamental rights of each citizen as outlined in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

“We have a commander-in-chief who does not respect or even understand the freedoms embedded in our Constitution or its First Amendment,” said Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who hosted the reading in the John Ferraro Council Camber. “The Trump administration’s war on the First Amendment includes repeated degradations of the role of media in our society and repeated invocations of ‘fake news’ when the absolute truth does not suit him, blacklisting press on occasion, including, and not ironically, The Washington Post, [and] open discrimination and intolerance under the guise of religious freedom.”

“In Los Angeles, we hold these values dear,” O’Farrell continued. “Donald Trump and his administration do not represent our values. The state of California and the city of Los Angeles, we are leading the resistance. All of us gathered here tonight, we are part and parcel of that resistance.”

“I am so proud of our city,” stated Stephen Sachs in his remarks before the reading. “What other major city in the country would hand over City Hall to its artists? Would have its Councilmembers allowing artists to literally sit in their seats for one night to express an urgent fundamental truth about our country through their art?”

“To every news man and news woman in this room,” Sachs continued. “To every reporter, every elected official, every artist, every citizen – we offer this reminder of hope. The truth will set us free.”

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Posted in actors, artist, Arts, arts organizations, director, film, Fountain Theatre, government, Hollywood, Los Angeles, movies, non-profit organization, Outreach Program, performing arts, Theater, theatre

Tagged All the President's Men, Andrew Robinson, Anna Khaja, Arianna Ortiz, Bob Woodward, Bradley Whitford, Carl Bernstein, Charles McNulty, City Hall, Deidrie Henry, Ed Begley, Fountain Theatre, freedom of the press, James DuMont, Jeff Perry, Joe Morton, Joshua Malina, Karen Kondazian, Larry Poindexter, Leith Burke, Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles Times, Mitch O'Farrell, Morlan Higgins, reading, Richard Schiff, Rob Nagle, Sam Anderson, Scandal, screenplay, Seamus Dever, Spencer Garrett, Stephen Sachs, theater, theatre, TV, Virginia Newcomb, Washington Post, Watergate, William Goldman

Jeff Perry and Joe Morton of ‘Scandal’ join cast of ‘All the President’s Men’ at City Hall

Posted on January 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

Full cast announced for celebrity reading

Final casting has been announced for the all-star reading of William Goldman’s screenplay for All The President’s Men scheduled to take place this Saturday, Jan. 27 in the John Ferraro Council Chamber of Los Angeles City Hall.

Based on the book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the 1976 film All The President’s Men tells the story of their Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of the Watergate scandal, which brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

Jeff Perry and Joe Morton, co-stars on ABC-TV’s hit series Scandal, will take on the roles of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and anonymous source “Deep Throat,” joining previously announced alumni of The West Wing Bradley Whitford as Woodward and Joshua Malina as Bernstein; Richard Schiff as Post local news editor Harry Rosenfeld; and Ed Begley, Jr. as managing editor Howard Simons. The cast will also feature Sam Anderson, Leith Burke, Seamus Dever, James Dumont, Arianna Ortiz, Spencer Garrett, Deidrie Henry, Morlan Higgins, Anna Khaja, Karen Kondazian, Rob Nagle, Virginia Newcomb, Larry Poindexter and Andrew Robinson.

The reading is being presented by the award-winning Fountain Theatre and co-sponsored by the City of L.A., the Los Angeles Press Club, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and the American Civil Liberties Union as a statement asserting the First Amendment, advocating freedom of the press and honoring the tenacity of American journalism in a free society. Although admission to the reading is free of charge, any voluntary donations will support, in part, the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s oldest organization representing American journalists, founded to improve and protect journalism and dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press.

To date, over 5,000 reservation inquiries have been received. With only 240 seats available in the council chamber at City Hall, the producers have instituted a lottery system. No further requests are being accepted.

“We knew this would be a must-see event but this goes beyond our wildest expectations,” says Fountain Theatre co-artistic director Stephen Sachs. “It shows how passionate the public feels about these urgent issues of Freedom of the Press and the sanctity of the First Amendment.”

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Posted in actors, arts organizations, Drama, film, Fountain Theatre, government, Hollywood, Los Angeles, movies, non-profit organization, performing arts, television, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, All the President's Men, American Civil Liberties Union, Andrew Robinson, Anna Khaja, Arianna Ortiz, Bradley Whitford, City Hall, Davis Wright Tremaine, Deidrie Henry, Ed Begley Jr, Fountain Theatre, James DuMont, Jeff Perry, Joe Morton, Joshua Malina, Karen Kondazian, Larry Poindexter, Leith Burke, Los Angeles Press Club, Mitch O'Farrell, Morlan Higgins, Richard Schiff, Rob Nagle, Sam Anderson, Scandal, Seamus Dever, Society of Professional Journalists, Spencer Garrett, Stephen Sachs, theater, theatre, Virginia Newcomb, William Goldman

Fountain Theatre to present ‘West Wing’ cast reading of ‘All the President’s Men’ at LA City Hall

Posted on January 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Nothing’s riding on this except the First Amendment of the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country.” — Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, as portrayed by Jason Robards in ‘All The President’s Men’

Bradley Whitford (The Post, Get Out, The West Wing), Joshua Malina (Scandal, The West Wing), Richard Schiff (The Good Doctor, The West Wing) and Ed Begley, Jr. (Future Man, St. Elsewhere, The West Wing) will head the cast of a special, one-night only reading of William Goldman’s screenplay for All The President’s Men, presented by the award-winning Fountain Theatre in partnership with the City of Los Angeles and with exclusive permission from Warner Bros Entertainment and Simon & Schuster. The free event will be hosted by Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell and will take place in the John Ferraro Council Chamber of Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m. A catered reception will follow in the City Hall Rotunda.

“This high-profile reading will be a statement asserting the First Amendment, advocating freedom of the press and honoring the tenacity of American journalism in a free society,” says Fountain Theatre co-artistic director Stephen Sachs, who will direct the reading. “As the current administration is under investigation, the echo of Watergate rings loud and clear. Reporters from The New York Times and Washington Post have been heroes, warriors for our democracy, as they were forty-five years ago.”

According to Councilmember O’Farrell, “All the President’s Men is a reminder of the parallels between Richard Nixon and the corruption that brought his presidency to an end and the current state of corruption overshadowing the Donald Trump administration. I want to thank the Fountain Theatre for producing this live reading, which underscores the importance of art in its many forms that can illuminate the conditions that affect us as a nation and as a society.”

Adds Sachs “We are profoundly grateful to Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell’s office and the City of Los Angeles for taking the extraordinary and unprecedented action of hosting the reading at Los Angeles City Hall, in the City Council Chamber, as a sign of solidarity. I am very proud of our city.”

The event is co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Press Club, which exists to support, promote, and defend quality journalism in Southern California with the belief that a free press is crucial to a free society. Although admission to the reading is free of charge, any voluntary donations will support, in part, the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s oldest organization representing American journalists, founded to improve and protect journalism and dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press.

The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. The Fountain has won over 225 awards, and Fountain projects have been seen across the U.S. and internationally. Recent highlights include being honored for its acclaimed 25th Anniversary Season in 2015 by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council; the inclusion of the Fountain’s Citizen: An American Lyric in Center Theatre Group’s Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The Fountain’s most recent production, the world premiere of Building the Wall by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, ran for five months and was named “L.A. hottest ticket” by the Los Angeles Times.

All The President’s Men takes place on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the John Ferraro Council Chamber, Room 340 of Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Admission is free. Seating is extremely limited. Please go to www.FountainFreePress.com or email freepress@fountaintheatre.com to inquire. No walk-ups will be permitted.