The Seat Next to The King

US debut of the play by Canadian playwright Steven Elliott Jackson about Walter Jenkins, top aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose career ended in a gay sex scandal, and Bayard Rustin, top adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who has been forced into the shadows of history because of his homosexuality. This intriguing play fantasizes two interactions between these influential, but vastly different gay men, in 1964 and 1984. Cooke and Harris are excellent in the roles.

Director Todd Fuller and playwright Steven Elliott Jackson

The ladies of "Nine" at Second Generation Theatre attended the opening night: Colleen Pine, Sabrina Kahwaty, and Arianne Davidow, with Xavier Harris, who stars as Bayard Rustin.

Actors Lisa Ludwig and Kristin Bentley of Second Generation, with Bobby Cooke, who stars as Walter Jenkins

Xavier Harris (left) and Bobby Cooke (right) with theater columnist and BUA artistic director Javier Bustillos