Birmingham Author’s JFK Assassination Book Inspires Play

Rachel Osier Lindley | November 14, 2013

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Next Friday, November 22, marks the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

It’s a story James Douglas of Birmingham knows well. He’s the author of the 2008 book “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.” It’s a detailed account of his research into President Kennedy’s work for peace and his assassination.

The book has been adapted into a play, entitled “Noah’s Ark,” by Pittsburgh playwright Ginny Cunningham. The Birmingham Festival Theatre will present a staged reading of the play this Sunday, November 17, at 2p.m. As Douglas and Cunningham describe in this interview, there were many challenges involved in turning Douglas’s 500-plus page book into a 90 minute play. The version presented in Birmingham this weekend is three years and 20 drafts in the making.