8 (or 8 the Play) is an American play that portrays the legal argument and witness testimony of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, which led to the overturn of California's Proposition 8. It was created by Dustin Lance Black in light of the federal court system's refusal to allow release of video recordings from the trial and to give the public a true account of what transpired in the courtroom.

The play is written in the style of verbatim theatre reenactment, using transcripts from the trial and journalist records, along with interviews from the plaintiffs, defendants and proponents involved. "8" first opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City on September 19, 2011, and later broadcast worldwide from the Ebell of Los Angeles on March 3, 2012.^[1][2]

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact, sponsors of the play, have licensed the play for readings nationwide on college campuses and in community theaters free of charge.^[3][4][5][6]

Context[link]

In May 2009, AFER filed a lawsuit, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of plaintiffs, two same-sex couples, to challenge a voter-approved constitutional amendment, known as Proposition 8, that eliminated same-sex couples' right to marry.^[7][8] The same-sex couples were represented by David Boies and former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, two high profile attorneys who opposed each other in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore.^[9]

During the trial, the plaintiffs presented expert witnesses of which nine the court found "were amply qualified to offer opinion testimony on the subjects identified" and "offered credible opinion testimony on the subjects identified."^[10] The defense presented only two expert witnesses who were willing to testify under oath. David Blankenhorn, who had been allowed to testify for the defense, was ultimately judged as lacking "the qualifications to offer opinion testimony".^[10] During Blankenhorn's cross-examination, he identified 23 benefits of adopting same-sex marriage, published on page 203 of his book "The Future of Marriage", stating only 5 with which he disagreed. Some of the benefits with which he did agree included that it would: improve the happiness and well-being of gays, lesbians, their children and family members; increase the proportion of gays and lesbians in stable, committed relationships; lead to higher living standards for same-sex couples; lead to fewer children growing up in state institutions and more growing up in loving adoptive and foster families; decrease the amount of anti-gay prejudice and hate crimes; and decrease the number of those warily viewed as "other" in society, further reaching the American ideal.^[11]

Kenneth P. Miller admitted that he lacked awareness of official anti-gay discrimination and harassment, anti-discrimination statutes, and scholarly literature on gay issues.^[12] Due to his lack of focus on gay and lesbian issues in his research; his lack of basis for comparison; his lack of familiarity with relevant research; his inability to confirm he had "personally identified the vast majority of the sources that he cited in his expert report"; and his admission that gays and lesbians face discrimination and "current discrimination is relevant to a group's political power", the court ruled that his testimony was "entitled to little weight...only to the extent...amply supported by reliable evidence."^[10] Opponents of same-sex marriage were unable to provide credible evidence proving their claim that same-sex marriage would harm society or the institution of marriage. Instead, the defense witnesses consequently testified favorably for the plaintiffs' case.

On August 4, 2010, Chief District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that there was no legitimate reason to deny same-sex couples the fundamental right of marriage.^[13]

Characters[link]

The Court[link]

• Vaughn R. Walker – Judge^[14]

• Brad Pitt (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Bob Balaban (Broadway)

• Theodore Olson – Lawyer for Plaintiffs^[14]

• Martin Sheen (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• John Lithgow (Broadway)

• David Boies – Lawyer for Plaintiffs^[14]

• George Clooney (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Morgan Freeman (Broadway)

• Charles J. Cooper – Lawyer for Defense^[14]

• Kevin Bacon (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Bradley Whitford (Broadway)

• Court Clerk^[14]

• Vanessa García (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Kate Shindle (Broadway)

The Plaintiffs[link]

• Kris Perry^[14]

• Christine Lahti (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Christine Lahti (Broadway)

• Sandy Stier^[14]

• Jamie Lee Curtis (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Ellen Barkin (Broadway)

• Spencer Perry – son of Plaintiff^[14]

• Bridger Zadina (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Jay Armstrong Johnson (Broadway)

• Elliot Perry – son of Plaintiff^[14]

• Jansen Panettiere (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Ben Rosenfeld (Broadway)

• Jeff Zarrillo^[14]

• Matt Bomer (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Matt Bomer (Broadway)

• Paul Katami^[14]

• Matthew Morrison (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Cheyenne Jackson (Broadway)

Witnesses for Plaintiffs[link]

• Dr. Nancy Cott – (history of marriage)^[14]

• Yeardley Smith (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Yeardley Smith (Broadway)

• Dr. Gregory M. Herek – (nature of homosexuality; sexual orientation)^[14]

• Rory O’Malley (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• K. Todd Freeman (Broadway)

• Dr. Ilan Meyer – (minority stress; stigma impacts; discrimination)^[14]

• Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Anthony Edwards (Broadway)

• Dr. Gary Segura – (vulnerability of gays and lesbians in the nation's political process)^[14]

• James Pickens, Jr. (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Stephen Spinella (Broadway)

• Ryan Kendall – (forced by parents to undergo "conversion therapy" as a youth)^[14]

• Chris Colfer (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Rory O'Malley (Broadway)

Witnesses for Defense[link]

• David Blankenhorn – (marriage is a socially-approved, sexual relationship between man and woman)^[14]

• John C. Reilly (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Rob Reiner (Broadway)

• William Tam – (same-sex marriage leads to polygamy, pedophilia, and incest)^[14]

• George Takei (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Ken Leung (Broadway)

Other Characters[link]

• Evan Wolfson – Founder of Freedom to Marry^[14]

• Cleve Jones (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Larry Kramer (Broadway)

• Maggie Gallagher – NOM President (opponent of same-sex marriage)^[14]

• Jane Lynch (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Jayne Houdyshell (Broadway)

• Broadcast Journalist^[14]

• Campbell Brown (Ebell of Los Angeles)
• Campbell Brown (Broadway)

See also[link]

• LGBT portal
• Same-sex marriage in the United States
• 8: The Mormon Proposition

References[link]

External links[link]

• Premiere Video – "8": A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality on YouTube
• 8theplay.com - Official website
• American Foundation for Equal Rights
• Transcripts from Perry Trial

Look up Play or play in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Play may refer to:

• Play (activity), enjoyed by animals and humans
• Play (theatre), structured literary form of theatre

Music[link]

Bands[link]

• Play (UK band), on the Survival Records label (1980s)
• Play (Mexican band) (or Grupo Play), Mexican band
• Play (group), Swedish band

Albums[link]

• Play (Brad Paisley album)
• Play (Bond album)
• Play (David Ball album)
• Play (Great Big Sea album)
• Play (Moby album)
• Play (Namie Amuro album)
• Play (Play album), album by the Swedish band
• Play (S.H.E album)
• Play (Squeeze album)

• Plays, an album by Andy Dixon (Secret Mommy)

Songs[link]

• "Play", a song by SS501
• "Play" (David Banner song)
• "Play" (Jennifer Lopez song)
• Play (EP), extended play recording by Ride
• "Play" (Robyn song)

Others[link]

• Play! A Video Game Symphony, a symphony tour featuring video game music
• Play 99.6 (radio), a radio station in Jordan
• Christopher "Play" Martin, one half of hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play

Other arts and entertainment[link]

• Play (New York Times), a sports magazine from The New York Times
• Play (play), written by Samuel Beckett
• Play (TV series), a Canadian news magazine series
• Play (UK magazine), a UK PlayStation magazine
• Play (US magazine), a United States video game magazine
• Play (2005 film), a Chilean film directed by Alicia Scherson
• Play (2009 short film), directed by David Kaplan (filmmaker)
• Play (2011 film), a Swedish film directed by Ruben Östlund
• Play, The Videogames World, first European exhibition on videogames
• Television play, television genre
• Wii Play, a video game released for the Wii video game console

In sports[link]

• Play from scrimmage, an organized action as part of the game, in American and Canadian football
• The Play, a controversial and historic last second kickoff return for a touchdown in the 1982 Cal–Stanford 'Big Game'

Other Uses[link]

• Backlash (engineering), the amount of lost motion due to clearance or slackness between mating components when movement is reversed
• Google Play, a digital content service offered by Google
• Play.com, an online retail company
• Petroleum play, group of oil fields or prospects in the same region that are controlled by the same set of geological circumstances
• Play Framework, in computer science, an open source web application framework in Java.
• Play Mobile, a Polish internet provider and mobile operator
• Word play, literary and narrative technique
• Xperia Play, released in 2011, a Android phone capable of running PlayStation games

See also[link]

• Player (disambiguation)

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