Director, Andrew King
On Sunday, November 5th, Baton Rouge Gallery is happy to host the Reader’s Theatre production, Synopsis of the War Trial of Robert S. McNamara, directed by Andrew King. As with all Sundays@4 performances, this will be free and open to the public.
The War Trial of Robert S. Mc Namara written by Donn Potter is the story of the failure of America's war for the defense of South Vietnam. Early in the play President Lyndon Johnson and his Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara debate the reasons for America's defeat at the Johnson Ranch. Later Mc Namara encounters George Church, CIA operative whose son died in Vietnam. In a final engagement between McNamara and LBJ guilt and bitterness reach a flashpoint.
The 90-minute Reader's Theatre production by Red Rider Readers is directed by Andrew King. Andrew King is Professor Emeritus at LSU. He was chairman of Communication Studies for 13 years and held the Hopkins Chair of Communication, Rhetoric, and Performance Studies.
Actor Mike Raborn, who plays LBJ in The War Trial of Robert S. McNamara
“In 1964 American Secretary of Defense and a coterie of Ivy League intellectuals were recruited by President LBJ to conduct the Vietnam War. Despite overwhelming military resources and absolute air superiority McNamara and his “brightest and best” were outmaneuvered and stalemated by Ho Chi Minh’s mobile armies. Support for the war in Congress crumbled and college campuses erupted in anti war protests . The play begins with McNamara ‘s brutal confrontation with LBJ over which one of them bear the blame for disastrous military failure. Later McNamara faces a bitter interrogation with a CIA agent whose son died in the war. Following this he endures the condemnation of Madame Nhu , widow of assassinated Vietnamese President Diem. The play’s climactic finish is set at the Johnson ranch shortly before the President‘s death.”