Strathairn and Giamatti Open Theatre Works' Season With 'Rivalry'

Jump-starting L.A. Theatre Works' 2008-09 season, David Strathairn and Paul Giamatti star as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, rivals for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois.  Eric Simonson, 2006 Academy Award winner for his documentary The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, directs a rare and timely revival of Corwin's The Rivalry about the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. Five performances, October 15 through 19, will be recorded at the Skirball Cultural Center to air on LATW's nationally syndicated, weekly radio theater series, The Play's The Thing.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 tackled the day's most passionate issue - slavery. Taken directly from the transcripts, The Rivalry recreates the face off between Abraham Lincoln, rising Illinois legislator and abolitionist candidate of the newly formed Republican party, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic incumbent and champion of states' rights.  The series of seven debates that took place in seven Congressional districts were conducted in a fever of partisanship as the nation listened.  Brass bands played, and the press vilified or glorified the opponents, depending on which side they took.

"With The Rivalry, Norman Corwin demonstrates once again his instinct for things timeless and quintessentially American," says Simonson.   "The themes of this play resonate beyond its setting, 1858, and the time it was written, 1958.  Race, states' rights versus federal interests, and the very nature of our political culture are all played out in exciting, dramatic and contemporary ways. It's a play that speaks to our national identity."

Although Douglas was re-elected Senator from Illinois, the debates brought Lincoln into the national consciousness and helped send him on to the presidency.

Parallels in Corwin's 1958 script to the current contest between Obama and McCain are striking.

"What is so heartbreakingly different from today's political scene is how principled they both were, putting the nation before their own hopes," notes LATW Producing Artistic Director Susan Loewenberg.

A live big screen viewing of the third Obama-McCain debate, followed by analysis by an historian of presidential debates, will be offered prior to the Wednesday evening performance.  The first event in LATW's new Wednesday Dinner Salon Series (separate admission price) takes place on Wednesday, October 15 at 6 pm.

The Rivalry opened in Vancouver, Canada in 1958 with Raymond Massey and Martin Gabel, then toured the Eastern U.S. before opening on Broadway on February 12, 1959 (Lincoln's birthday) with Gabel and Richard Boone.  "For substance and originality, it would be difficult to improve on Norman Corwin's 'The Rivalry,' wrote Brooks Atkinson in his review.  "In every respect, 'The Rivalry' is a stirring piece of work."

Norman Corwin is one of the greatest living writers in the English language, and has been called America's "poet laureate of radio."   During the 1930s and 40s, he wrote and produced many of the most powerful and most influential programs ever created for the media.  Corwin's programs range far and wide through the genres of drama and comedy, including love stories, satire, biography, fantasy, mystery, Bible stories, travelogues, history, media analyses and philosophy  Over the years, he has worked in various media, publishing a number of books and writing for the stage, television and film. His books include "Trivializing America"; "Holes In A StaiNed Glass Window"; his collected correspondence; and many books of his scripts and poetry. His movie script for Lust For Life, a biography of Vincent Van Gogh, won him an Oscar nomination.  His television credits include his 1971 series "Norman Corwin Presents."  Corwin returned triumphantly to radio in the 1990s with a series of new programs written and directed for NPR.  These new productions are destined as well to be considered audio theater classics, produced in full digital stereo and starring such luminaries as William Shatner, Jack Lemmon, Charles Kuralt, Martin Landau, Hume Cronyn, Charles Durning, Samantha Eggar and many others.

For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions.  LATW's radio theater series, The Play's The Thing, airs weekly on 89.3 FM KPCC in Southern California; 89.7 WGBH in Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago; 94.9 KUOW in Seattle; 93.5 FM KRTS "Marfa Public Radio" in Texas; 90.5 FM KUT in Austin;88.9 FM KUNM in Albuquerque; 94.1 KPFA in Northern California; 91.1 FM KRCB in Sonoma County; 89.1 KUOR in Redlands; as well as on many other public radio stations nationwide and XM Satellite Radio.  Selected programs from LATW are also heard internationally over BBC World Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Telefis Eirann (Ireland), Radio Hong Kong, and Radio New Zealand.  The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is  available in bookstores, libraries, through their catalog, digitally on itunes, overdrive.com, audible.com, and on the L.A. Theatre Works website at www.latw.org.

Performances of The Rivalry take place on Wednesday, October 15 at 8 pm; Thursday, October 16 at 8 pm; Friday, October 17 at 8 pm; Saturday, October 18 at 2:30 pm; and Sunday, October 19 at 4 pm.  Tickets range from $20.00 to $48.00.  The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive).  For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.