OneNewsNow: Theater curtain masks Calif. politics

(OneNewsNow.com – 8/30/11) –Several prominent actors have joined a play depicting the battle over marriage in California. One pro-family advocate says it indirectly supports the effort to dismantle traditional marriage.

Actors Morgan Freeman and Anthony Edwards have joined the cast of the play titled 8, a depiction of the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco. The two actors will hold a one-time, staged reading of the play on Broadway, the proceeds of which will go towards The American Foundation for Equal Rights, a group created to challenge Prop. 8. Other actors joining the performance at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre include Cheyenne Jackson, Rob Reiner, and Marisa Tomei.

8 is being marketed under the banner statement: “In January 2010, equality was put on trial. This is the real story.”

Alex Mason, policy analyst for the Family Policy Network, cautions theater-goers who might not be aware what is going on behind the scenes.

“Any of the proceeds [from the benefit] will be to fund increased and more frequent and sustained attacks on God’s definition of marriage,” he explains. “And anybody who goes to this play and supports it is going to be implicitly responsible for their support of that.”

The play, which was written by Dustin Lance Black, will depict the arguments in the Proposition 8 trial. Black also penned the film Milk, which won numerous Academy Awards for its portrayal of the life of late homosexual politician Harvey Milk.

Mason sees the upcoming play as a sign of the times. “Nowadays most of what is referred to as ‘entertainment’ is actually nothing more than a positive portrayal of the rejection of God’s standards on sexual morality,” the analyst laments. “Over the last generation in America, homosexuality has progressed from what would be something that is censored to something that is [now] celebrated ….”

The American Foundation for Equal Rights says following the premier next month, the play will be licensed to schools and community organizations across the U.S. “in order to spur action, dialogue, and understanding.”