Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers 2008 Tour Edition (Library Edition Audio CDs) [Audio CD]

Geoffrey Cowan (Author), Leroy Aarons (Author)

Book Description

Series: Top Secret | Publication Date: June 25, 2008

A new edition of this timely docudrama about The Washington Posts decision to publish the Pentagon Papers, a secret study documenting U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the publics right to know against the governments desire for secrecy.

A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Diane Adair, Bo Foxworth, John Getz, James Gleason, Gregory Harrison, John Heard, Charles Janasz, Raphael Sbarge, Russell, Soder, Susan Sullivan, Peter Van Norden, Tom Virtue, Geoffrey Wade

Editorial Reviews

Review

At a time when an hour of episodic televsion routinely costs $1.5 million, when Broadway producers must raise $1 million or more to stage a modest play, and when even a low-budget movie may cost many times that amount, the low entry costs of radio production - as little as $20,000 for a decent hour of drama, equal to the costs of the credits for a journeyman television show - seem almost quaint. The advantages of producing radio theater go beyond simple economic expediencies. Since unlike most prime-time television dramas, radio productions need not be overly broad in their appeal or confined to twenty-two minute-per-half-hour openings, more complex and nuanced subjects can be explored. L.A. Theatre Works, for example, joined with NPR last year to broadcast TOP SECRET: THE BATTLE FOR THE PENTAGON PAPERS. It was based on the 1971 case in which The New York Times, after being leaked one of fifteen copies of an official study of U.S. involvement in Indochina, was blocked! from publishing it by a federal court on the grounds that to do so would be a breach of national security. The script, which dealt with The Washington Post's decision to publish the documents, relied on interviews with the participants and trial transcripts as well as heretofore-undisclosed elements of the proceedings held in camera that were acquired under the Freedom of Information Act. The two-hour-long production, which is quite magnificent, starred Ed Asner, Harry Shearer, Marsha Mason, and Robert Foxworth. -- Vogue

In 1992, LATW was awarded The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's gold and silver awards for Best Live Entertainment and Technical Achievement in Public Radio for "The Play's the Thing" TOP --Los Angeles Times

Product Details

• Audio CD: 1 pages
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works; Unabridged edition (June 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580813879
• ISBN-13: 978-1580813877
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,519,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)