A play written by university professor Geoffrey Cowan and late journalism professor Leroy Aarons makes its final national stop March 12-16 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
The play, Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, is an inside look at the Washington Post's decision to publish a top-secret study documenting the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the public’s right to know against the government’s claim of secrecy. The epic legal battle between the government and the press went to the nation’s highest court and is perhaps the most important Supreme Court case ever on freedom of the press.
"The putative secrecy of the Bush administration during the Iraq war has reminded some, including L.A. Theatre Works producer Susan Loewenberg, of the continuing relevance of the Pentagon Papers case and 'Top Secret,'" a March 12 Los Angeles Times review said. "Last year, she and Cowan and actor-director John Rubenstein decided to revise the play for a new production that has been performed at 23 universities and cultural centers across the country before its last stop back home in Los Angeles."
"We've had time to work on it and think about it," Loewenberg told the Times. "As a piece of theater it's better and more elaborate" than the original, produced during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
