Publisher Description
A new play from the award-winning playwright of Proof
In midcentury America, newspaper columnists are kings—and Joseph Alsop wears the biggest crown. Joe sits at the nexus of Washington life: beloved, feared, and courted in equal measure by the very people whose careers and futures he determines. But as the sixties dawn and America undergoes dizzying change, the intense political dramas Joe has been throwing his weight around in—supporting the war in Vietnam and Soviet containment, criticizing student activism—come to bear a profound personal cost.
Based on the real-life story of Joe Alsop, whose columns at the time of his 1974 retirement were running three times a week in more than three hundred newspapers, David Auburn's The Columnist is a deft blend of history and storytelling. A hilarious, searing portrait of the glorious rewards and devastating losses that accompany ego, ambition, and the pursuit of power, The Columnist pens a vital letter from a radically changing decade to our own turbulent era.
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About David Auburn
David Auburn is an American playwright whose 2000 play Proof won the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was also adapted into a film. He has received the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in Manhattan.
About the Narrators
Thérèse Plummer is an actor, award-winning voice-over artist, and counselor. She has won eighteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has appeared in a variety of television and film roles. As a counselor for adolescents, she spent five years using drama therapy techniques in individual and group settings.
John Getz is a stage-trained actor known for his roles in Blood Simple, The Fly, and The Social Network. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and attended the American Conservatory of Theatre in San Francisco.
David Krumholtz is an actor and writer known for Numb3rs, 10 Things I Hate About You, and This Is the End. He has been married to Vanessa Britting since 2010. He lives in Los Angeles.
John Vickery is a
classical stage actor who has appeared in many stage performances, including The Lion King on Broadway, in which he
played Scar. He has also appeared on a variety of television shows, most
notably Babylon 5 and Star Trek.
JoBeth Williams is a film, stage, and television actress and president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Among her many film and television credits are Dexter, Hart of Dixie, 24, The Big Chill, and Poltergeist.