American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

California Speaker John A. Pérez, Cleve Jones, Dustin Lance Black and more star in “8” San Francisco

The renowned American Conservatory Theater will stage a one-night-only benefit reading of “8” in San Francisco on October 7.

It will be the first time Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the play based on the transcripts of the 2010 Prop. 8 trial, will have an acting role in the production. He’ll be joined by legendary activist and AFER Advisory Board Member Cleve Jones (who also appeared at the Los Angeles premiere), Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor (The Practice, Two and a Half Men), actor Luke McFarlane (Brothers & Sisters) and Assemblymember John A. Pérez, who is the first openly-gay speaker of the California Assembly.

For Speaker Pérez, the role of expert witness Gary Segura was a lifetime in the making:

“As someone whose own rights were taken away by Proposition 8, and Proposition 22 before it, I am deeply honored to be participating in a production that brilliantly and vividly captures the critical moments of the trial that led to Judge Vaughn Walker’s groundbreaking ruling.”

Tickets are on sale now. Proceeds from the reading benefit AFER and LGBTQ youth participating in A.C.T.’s ACTsmart program, which offers free student matinee tickets and theater-based pre- and post-show workshops at no cost to 23 public high schools in the Bay Area (including all 18 San Francisco public high schools) with large populations of underserved, low-income students who otherwise would have little exposure to the arts.

And be sure to check out ACT’s limited engagement of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s powerful, Tony-winning AIDS drama which wowed Broadway and will soon be turned into a film starring Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts and Alec Baldwin. Tickets to the play are on sale now and the show runs through October 7.