Actors from one of the most famous political television shows of all time will read one of the most famous political stories of all time.
Stars of NBC’s “The West Wing” will hold a one-night-only reading of “All the President’s Men” in Los Angeles on January 27. The reading, which will take place in the Los Angeles City Hall, is free but donations for the event will go to the Society of Professional Journalists.
Stars including Bradley Whitford, Joshua Malina, Richard Schiff and Ed Begley, Jr. from Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed White House series which ran 1999 to 2006 will all take part in the event. The stars will read William Goldman’s screenplay of the film based on the book by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward.
Woodward and Bernstein’s book tells the story of their investigation into the Watergate scandal, which led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. The book was adapted for the 1976 film starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
“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,” Stephen Sachs, Fountain Theatre’s co-artistic director who will direct the reading, said in a statement.
Sachs added that, “As the current administration is under investigation, the echo of Watergate rings loud and clear. Reporters from The New York Times and [The] Washington Post have been heroes, warriors for our democracy, as they were forty-five years ago.”
Whitford also stars in Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” a political drama about the Washington Post’s attempts to publish the Pentagon Papers.
