Farragut North (play)
Farragut North is a 2008 play written by Beau Willimon, loosely based on the 2004 Democratic primary campaign of Howard Dean. The script was awarded the 2005 Dayton Playhouse FutureFest award. A movie version is being developed.
The play is billed as "a classic tale of hubris set against a contemporary landscape — about the lust for power and the costs one will endure to achieve it." It is titled after Farragut North, a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Red Line. Farragut North serves downtown Washington and is located just north of Farragut Square near Connecticut Avenue. Willimon chose the name as the station is located in the center of the lobbyist district.[1]
It was slated to open on Broadway in 2008, in the lead up to the 2008 United States presidential election, but premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City. The production was directed by Doug Hughes and starred John Gallagher, Jr., Chris Noth, Olivia Thirlby, Kate Blumberg and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. The production ran from October 22, 2008 – November 29, 2008 with official opening on November 12.
The production transferred to the Geffen Playhouse in June 2009 with Noth, Thirlby and Whitlock Jr reprising their roles. Chris Pine, who played James Kirk in the 2009 film "Star Trek," joined the cast.
Plot
Stephen is a wunderkind press secretary who has built a career that men twice his age would envy. During a tight presidential primary race, however, Stephen's meteoric rise falls prey to the backroom politics of more seasoned operatives, and his one night stand with a teenage staffer proves to be more complicated than casual. Farragut North is a classic tale of hubris set against a contemporary landscape – about the lust for power and the costs one will endure to achieve it.
References
- ^ "DiCaprio, Clooney to star in movie about Howard Dean". The Guardian. October 11, 2007.
