One of my favorite programs during my college years was Steve Allen’s “Meeting of Minds”. This was an innovative PBS program that brought together four historical figures for a round-table discussion — figures such as Father Thomas Aquinas, Sir Thomas More, Emily Dickinson, St. Agustine of Hippo, and others. Alas, the series has never been released on videotape or DVD, nor was it rerun on PBS. All I have are the scripts.
Thus, I was very pleased to see that the Steve Allen Theatre at the Center for Free Inquiry in Hollywood is hosting a staged reading of the first episode of “Meeting of Minds”. The cast is spectacular:
GARY COLE (Entourage) as Steve Allen
DANICA MCKELLAR (The Wonder Years) as Queen Cleopatra
JOE SPANO (Hill Street Blues) as Father Thomas Aquinas
STEVEN CULP (RFK in 13 Days) as Thomas Paine
BILL SMITROVICH (The Practice) as President Teddy Roosevelt
The tickets are inexpensive ($15 for pre-order), and the date was free (Sun, August 30 @ 7pm)… so I’m ticketed. We’re seeing both Liza Minnelli and Theodore Roosevelt in the same weekend. If you’re in the area, I would recommend this based on the casting and the script. Tickets are available here.
