‘Top Secret’ Pentagon Papers story gets staged as a radio play

New docudrama relates a furious ‘70s fight for a free press

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

"Tell the truth and shame the devil," my Grandma Hintz used to tell me. So you should know from the get-go that I have paid remarkably little attention over the years to politics, government and related topics.

A sorry confession, but there it is. I did all right by "Frost/Nixon" but God help me when the new play "Enron" bows on Broadway next month.

The point is that as a journalist I can't assess the factual accuracy of "Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers," a new docudrama by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons that opened Tuesday at New York Theatre Workshop.

The only way to evaluate the show for potential viewers is to forget the documentary part and consider the drama, which the co-authors state is based upon interviews with people involved and transcripts from various trials. Among other compressions, the lawyers and judges appearing in the story are composite figures.

Coolly directed by John Rubenstein, this slice of 1970s American history is rendered as a two-act radio play.

Microphones are lined up across an austerely designed stage. A sound effects table is situated towards the rear. Blessed with distinctive voices and sedately dressed in early ‘70s attire, most of the 11-actor company expertly portrays at least two characters. The exceptions are Kathryn Meisle, who charmingly narrates some of the fast-moving story as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, and a forceful Peter Strauss as the Post's top editor Ben Bradlee.

The first act is conceived as a thriller, with journalists and editors obtaining the secret Pentagon Papers regarding the Vietnam conflict even as the Nixon White House fights to retain control over what it deems is classified information. Deadlines tick away as stories are feverishly written, injunctions are filed and publishers fret over various financial and moral considerations.

The second act switches into a series of courtroom clashes presided over by James Gleason as a peppery judge. A level-headed Jack Gilpin stands out as the Post's doubtful legal eagle who slowly comes to believe in his fight for a free press.

There's a distinct air of preaching-to-the-choir about the production likely to irk more conservative viewers. Larry Pine's grimacing Nixon and his counselors are depicted a bit obviously as schemers and bumblers. For all of their quirks (Gleason is funny as a hard-bitten newshound), the members of the Fourth Estate look mighty noble in comparison. Regardless of its slant, however, the story remains a sharp and interesting look at an historic confrontation between the government and the media.

By wisely devising "Top Secret" as a radio play with the actors seemingly reading from scripts, the authors and director create a distancing effect that gives both fluidity and credence to their chronicle, which might not seem quite so compelling were it weighed down by more realistic production values.

"Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers" continues through March 28 at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.nytw.org.