Dustin Lance Black has penned and Joe
Mantello will direct a new play based on the trial over the
constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8,
The
New York Times reported.
The 13-day trial, held last year in San
Francisco, resulted in Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired, declaring
the 2008 voter-approved amendment unconstitutional. Proponents of
the ban appealed the ruling, and gay and lesbian couples in
California remain banned from marrying.
Black, who won an Academy Award for
penning Milk, the 2009 biopic on the life of gay activist
Harvey Milk, and who is openly gay, told the paper that his new play,
which is simply titled 8 and
is based on the trial transcripts and interviews, was six
months in the making.
“I mined the best arguments on both
sides, trying to capture everything on their side that was a winning
point and anything on our side that was a winning point,” he said.
The play will premiere on September 19
at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theater. Subsequent productions are
planned at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwest, and the University
of Michigan.
Tony Award-winning actor and director
Joe Mantello will direct the play's premiere.