Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, a radio drama of L.A.Theatre Works

Thursday Jan. 17 and Friday Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Wait Chapel

In 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara commissioned a study on the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Five years later it was leaked to The New York Times. When they were prevented from printing more than a few days of excerpts The Washington Post stepped into the fray. TOP SECRET: THE BATTLE FOR THE PENTAGON PAPERS by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons re-enacts the events surrounding The Post's decision to publish their court battle with the U.S. government over that decision.

This theatrical event, starring John Heard* and directed by the acclaimed actor/director John Rubinstein, uses original source material and the old-fashioned format of the live radio drama to tell the story of this epic legal battle between the government and the press in 1971, during the Nixon administration. The play, based on interviews and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, follows the debate played out at Ben Bradlee's home as his staff sorts through the documents and tries to decide if publishing The Papers violates national security.

In this national election year of 2008, this will be a particularly timely experience. The Secrest Signature pre-performance talk will be given by Kathy Smith, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Sciences, and Katy Harriger, Professor of Political Sciences. Watch for details about other related activities on campus that will enhance and enrich this performance.

In conjunction with this Secrest event, the university's Voices of our Time series will present Iraq & Iran: The Need for New Pentagon Papers, a lecture by Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. in Brendle Recital Hall.

*Cast subject to change

Katy Harriger, Chair of the Dept. of Political Science, and Kathy Smith, also a Professor in Political Science, will be giving pre-performance Secrest Signature talks in the Balcony Room of Wait Chapel at 6:40pm.

88.5 WFDD, your NPR and Triad arts station, is a proud sponsor of the Secrest Artists Series. For broadcast information, visit wfdd.org

For further information on the Daniel Ellsberg lecture, visit Voices of Our Time

More information about L.A. Theatre Works:
» www.latw.org