Homage to Blacklisted Trumbo Plays Final Performance with Aidan Quinn, June 16

By Ernio Hernandez
16 Jun 2003

Aidan Quinn stars as the title role in the final performance of Christopher Trumbo's new work Trumbo opposite Ben Shenkman in the rotating cast production at the Westside Theatre, June 16.

Culled from the letters of legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo — the playwright's father — Trumbo tells the story of one of the "Hollywood Ten" who went before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After refusing to answer questions about his political affiliations, Trumbo was fired from MGM and imprisoned for a year.

Quinn appeared in the 1988 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. The actor's other credits include such films as "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Stakeout," "Benny & Joon," "Legends of the Fall" and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."

Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Sexaholix... a love story) directed the work presented by Claudia Catania and the Westside Theatre with the help of People For the American Way. The actors utilize a script-in-hand technique as employed in such other rotating cast works as The Vagina Monologues and The Guys.

Actors Ed Harris, Chris Cooper, Alec Baldwin, Eddie Izzard, Nathan Lane, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Irwin and Tim Robbins were featured in previous performances. Paul Giamatti, Michael Silver and Gordon MacDonald have alternately played the show's other role of son/narrator Christopher Trumbo.

The stagework's focus, Trumbo, wrote such screenplays as "The Brave One," "Exodus," "Spartacus," "Roman Holiday," and "Papillon" as well as the novel "Johnny Got His Gun."

For tickets to Trumbo at the Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43rd Street, call (212) 239-6200 or click here.