Ellen Barkin, Stephen Spinella and More Join 8 Benefit Reading; Marisa Tomei Departs Due to Schedule Conflict

Tony winners Ellen Barkin and Stephen Spinella, Tony nominee Jayne Houdyshell and Kate Shindle have joined the starry one-night-only reading of 8, the Prop 8-themed play by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. Produced by the American Foundation for Equal Rights in partnership with Broadway Impact, the reading is set for September 19 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, directed by Joe Mantello. Previously announced star Marisa Tomei has withdrawn from the show due to scheduling conflicts.

The play follows the final days of the federal legal challenge to California's Proposition 8, which eliminated the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry in California. Black wrote 8 based on the actual trial transcripts and first-hand observations of the courtroom drama and interviews with plaintiffs and families. The show features arguments and testimony from both sides of the issue. Barkin will play Sandy Steir half of the lesbian couple (with Christine Lahti) who serve as plaintiffs in the Prop 8 trial. Spinella will play Dr. Gary Segura, a witness in the trial, with Houdyshell taking on the role of Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Shindle will play the Clerk.

Barkin received a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in The Normal Heart earlier this year. Her other theater credits include Fool for Love, Extremities, Eden Court and Killings on the Last Line. Her film work includes Sea of Love, Ocean's Thirteen, Palindromes, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Fan and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 

Spinella earned Tony Awards for Angels in America: Millenium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika. Her recently appeared in off-Broadway's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. His other Broadway credits include Spring Awakening, Our Town, James Joyce's The Dead, Electra and A View From the Bridge.

Houdyshell currently appears in the Broadway revival of Follies. Her Broadway credits include Wicked, Bye Bye Birdie, Well and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Shindle last appeared on Broadway in Wonderland. She has also appeared in Legally Blonde, Cabaret and Jekyll & Hyde.

Other new additions to the cast include Tony nominee K. Todd Freeman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Hair), Ken Leung (TV's Lost) and Ben Rosenfeld (Through a Glass Darkly). The cast of 8 also includes previously announced stars Morgan Freeman, Anthony Edwards, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith, John Lithgow, Bradley Whitford, Matthew Bomer, Bob Balaban, Campbell Brown, Larry Kramer and Rory O'Malley.