Documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer of FrackNation, and the playwright behind “The Caterers,” Jonathan Leaf, have written a new production they are crowdfunding titled “The $18-Billion Prize,” a new play from Verbatim Theater Production company.
According to the writers, the play is based on the trial and transcripts of the environmental court case “Donziger v. Chevron Corp,” a 1993 lawsuit brought against Chevron, which was accused by the Harvard-educated American lawyer Steven Donziger of polluting the Amazon rainforest.
The case was covered by “Vanity Fair,” “Rolling Stone,” and “60 Minutes,” bringing in the Hollywood elite to stand against Chevron in the name of supporting the environment.
In 2011, an Ecuadorian court ruled in favor of Donziger, ordering Chevron to pay out $18.1 billion, making it one of the largest civil court judgments of all time.
However, Chevron challenged the judgment in America. After ordering Donziger to turn over his records, the case revealed that the plaintiff had bribed judges, committed fraud, and engaged in corruption to achieve his goal, even bribing several celebrities to speak out against Chevron. After this discovery, McAleer says, the mainstream media lost complete interest in the greatest fraud perpetrated under the guise of environmentalism.
“This play is also about the failure of journalism,” McAleer said. “The Chevron case was one of the first examples of ‘fake news.’ I think audience members will be very surprised, even shocked, when they hear the clear and unaltered truth about the events that took place.”
McAleer told The Daily Wire in a statement, “I hope they walk away entertained because it is very dramatic and very funny seeing the way this fraud was engineered, and the sexual shenanigans of Hollywood celebs gone wild in the jungle. This was all recorded by Steven Donziger the lawyer for the environmentalists.”
“I also hope they walk away with the truth — with the realization that the story that was spun in the mainstream media was completely bogus. Since the truth emerged the media have not corrected the record — so it looks like they were engaged in Fake News, not accidentally inaccurate news.”
Directed by Richard Kuhlman, “The $18-Billion Prize” opens May 19 and runs through June 3 at San Francisco’s Phoenix Theatre. You can find out more at their website.