Life > January 24, 2008

By Liza Greenspun | News editor

Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers is an exceptional radio play that conveys an important First Amendment battle in an informative yet entertaining way.

The L.A. Theatre Works play tells the story of The Washington Post’s court case to defend its right to print the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page, 47-volume study about how the United States got involved in the Vietnam War.

Daniel Ellsberg, a former defense department employee, was one of very few people who actually read one of the seven copies of the classified report.

Upon reading the study, Ellsberg decided that despite the risks it entailed, the documents should be leaked to Senator William Fulbright, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He hoped Fulbright would hold hearings and make the Pentagon Papers public.

However, this failed and Ellsberg gave a copy of the volumes to a reporter at the New York Times.

The Times printed the first edition of the Pentagon Papers despite the legal consequences that could, and did, follow the publishing.

The federal government argued that the documents were filled with important information that could put the country in danger if in the wrong hands.

However, Ellsberg felt that the information contained therein was knowledge that the public had the right to know.

The play begins at this point in the story, unfolding the history of what happened in court following The Washington Post’s attempts to bring the Pentagon Papers to the public.

The government tried to use prior restraint to stop the paper from continuing to publish the classified documents after the Post’s attempt.

Despite the complexity of the situation, the play was entertaining and easy to follow even for those who were not familiar with the story of the Pentagon Papers.

As a radio play, it was easy to follow the voices of the characters as they read the scripts in front of microphones with minimal acting.

Unfortunately, the characters were not dressed in their usual costumes in the Jan. 17 performance of the play in Wait Chapel because due to their luggage being held at an airport as a result of inclement weather.

However, the costumes truly were not necessary in understanding who played who throughout the play, which ran for about an hour-and-a-half, with a 15-minute intermission separating the two acts.

The serious nature of the battle between the newspaper and the government was sprinkled with humorous anecdotes and word usages throughout, serving as comic relief and incurring chuckles from the audience.

Overall the play was a success.

In an age so strained by classified information having to do with the federal government’s policies about Iraq and Iran, L.A. Theatre Works came to the university at an appropriate time.

They are informing students and community members about an important part of American history.

The topic will be discussed again at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 in Brendle Recital Hall when Ellsberg himself speaks at the university about the necessity in current times to have documents similar to the Pentagon Papers leaked to the press.