The confrontation between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis will be dramatized this month in the Potomac Theatre Company’s upcoming production of “The Titans.”
Hugh S. Sidey and Austin H. Kiplinger, journalists who covered that moment, will introduce “The Titans,” on March 20 at its inaugural performance in conjunction with a black tie fundraiser for PTC hosted by Bethesda residents Richard and Becky Kay.
“The Titans” will be performed just once on that evening at the The Bullis School where guests will be served dessert and coffee during intermission.
Sidey, who covered every presidency from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush, will discuss his experiences during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“I am happy that PTC will stage a production that offers its audience a chance to revisit this crucial moment in the nation’s history,” Sidey said. “Everyone should pay attention to its meaning today.”
Fellow journalist and another local resident, Austin H. Kiplinger is editor emeritus of The Kiplinger Washington Letter and chairman of the Kiplinger Washington Editors. “This is a very ambitious undertaking for PTC,” he said. “It is an attempt to dramatize a really frightening event in the history of the world.”
In 1989, playwright Robert McElwaine began writing “The Titans” at the request of Roger Stevens, Chairman of the Board and President of the Kennedy Center. McElwaine spent three years researching and writing the play with 90% of the dialogue taken from letters, tapes and official documents.