By Margot Abbott ROLE PLAYER'S ENSEMBLE will present "The Best Man," Gore Vidal's 1960 drama about a presidential election. The play, which begins the Danville group's 25th season opens Oct. 10 and ends right before Election Day. You can't get more topical than that.

By Pat Craig Almost 50 years ago, Gore Vidal turned his novel "The Best Man" into a play filled with barbed political jibes and populated by characters who kept audiences guessing about which contemporary political figures they were based upon.

By Pat Craig Shane Partlow saunters into the Pleasant Hill rehearsal room of Diablo Light Opera Company looking very much like Will Rogers, or at least the Will Rogers you remember from photos and movies.

Author Gore Vidal will speak with Jay Parini, author and Vidal's literary executor, on Tuesday, June 24, 2008, at the Writers Guild Theater as a part of TOWN HALL's ongoing Writers Bloc series.

Barbara Walters, journalist and author of "Audition: A Memoir," will speak with Judy Muller, journalist, on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at the Writers Guild Theater as part of TOWN HALL's ongoing Writers Bloc series.