NEW YORK (AP) — The producers of a new play inspired by the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal at The New York Times have found the actor who will play the disgraced ex-journalist.
The Atlantic Theater Company says Kobi Libii will play a Blair-like Times reporter in the world premiere of Gabe McKinley's play CQ/CX.
Libii, a Yale graduate and alumnus of Second City in Chicago, was in Perfect Harmony at the Acorn Theatre and The Tempest at the Porpentine Theater.
Blair resigned from the Times in 2003 after an investigation found he plagiarized or fabricated major portions of articles he had written during four years with the newspaper.
McKinley was a former news assistant at the Times who overlapped with Blair. His other plays include Extinction, The Kitchen Sink Play and Welcome Home Rock Rogers.
Tony Award-nominated David Leveaux, who recently directed Tom Stoppard's Arcadia on Broadway, will direct the new play. Producers describe it as a “revealing and complex story about the collateral damage of unchecked ambition and compounded lies.”
Previews begin Jan. 25 and an official opening is set for Feb. 15.
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Photo:Jayson Blair
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