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.”
“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’
