The way world and local news are disseminated and received has certainly changed a whole lot since the days investigative journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were young guns at the Washington Post. In some instances, for the worse, with TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and a whole snake pile of unbalanced and skewed media forms spewing and spinning stories aimed more at click bait than clear-eyed reporting. There was no fake news back then — there was just… news-news. And hard-working journalists who did their best to report it.
There are certainly still the latter today; all hope is not lost. But, reporting and investigating stories is as challenging, if not more so, than ever.
It’s a fitting time for Guild Hall, then, to stage a one-night-only reading of All the President’s Men, Woodward and Bernstein’s 1974 tome detailing their breaking of the Watergate Scandal, in which then-American President Richard Nixon thought he could skate above the law of the land (imagine that?). It was famously turned into an Oscar-winning film starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
All the President’s Men will be read by Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Lonergan, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron and Ramy Youssef, among other famous names of film and stage. (Photo courtesy of the Center at West Park)
And on August 25, a cache of award-winning actors will take the stage at Guild Hall for a reading of the script spun from the non-fiction book, all for a great cause.
As one might expect, the ticket price reflects the rarity of the event, with seats starting at $1,000 and going up to $10,000 (any ticket over $5,000 garners an invitation to a post-performance reception with the cast at Guild Hall), but it all goes to support The Center at West Park (165 W. 86th St., New York, NY), the nonprofit arts and community center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Housed in the landmarked, 135-year-old West Park Presbyterian Church, the building’s owners have been angling to sell to developers, putting the community arts center’s future on an unclear path for potential peril.
On tap to read are actor (and Sag Harbor Goop-outpost owner) Gwyneth Paltrow as well as actors Julianne Moore, Andy Cohen, Ramy Youssef, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith Cameron, Kenneth Lonergan, Maddie Corman, Charles Everett, Spencer Garrett, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Corey Hawkins, Ali Wentworth and star of city government, public advocate Jumaane D. Williams. The performance is directed by Tony-winning actor and director John Benjamin Hickey.
All the President’s Men will be performed at 7 p.m., Monday, Aug. 25, at Guild Hall (158 Main St., East Hampton, 631-324-0806). Get your tickets here.
