Episode 1

Don DeLillo’s fictionalised reimagining of the events surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy, adapted for audio by Ben Lewis.
Starring Fisher Stevens and Tucker St. Ivany.

A CIA analyst is tasked with pulling together all the facts, theories and suppositions surrounding this founding moment in recent American history. Drawing them together, he tries to imagine how and why JFK was killed. Cutting between the story of Lee Harvey Oswald’s life and two men conspiring to assassinate the president, it builds a picture of a fractured America during the cold war era.

This is a work of fiction inspired by fact. Don DeLillo’s novel - and this adaptation - draw on real events and on some real people. But characters, incidents and dialogue are predominantly works of fiction. Real people have been placed in imagined situations whilst other characters have been created entirely for the purposes of storytelling.

Part of Radio 4’s Story of America - a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States.

Cast:
The Analyst… Fisher Stevens
Lee Harvey Oswald…Tucker St. Ivany
The conspirators…Tyler Collins and Michael Nardone
Marguerite Oswald…Nicole Cooper
The Marine…Michael Guest
Bobby Dupard…Reuben Joseph
Marina Oswald…Holly Howden Gilchrist
George de Mohrenschildt…Grant O’Rourke
David Ferrie…Robin Laing

All other parts were played by the company

BBC Audio Scotland Production
Production Co-ordinators: Bethany Woodhead and Minnie Harrop
Studio Production and sound editing: Andrew Hay and Gav Murchie
Sound Design and original scoring: Danny Krass

Adapted by Ben Lewis
Directed by Kirsty Williams

Archive: CBS Evening News, November 22nd 1963