With the world on the brink of war, the judgment of an untested president is called into question. What kind of intellectual and emotional stamina does it take to make the right decision? As Soviet nuclear missiles move ever closer to Cuba, President John F. Kennedy must parse his inner circle's conflicting counsel to prevent nuclear annihilation. This original LATW commission by David Rambo stars Matthew Arkin as ambassador to the Soviet Union Llewellyn Thompson; Hugo Armstrong as Lyndon B. Johnson; Seamus Dever as Robert McNamara; Matthew Floyd Miller as Robert F. Kennedy; James Morrison as CIA director John McCone; David Selby as Dean Rusk; Rich Sommer as national security adviser McGeorge Bundy; Nick Toren as JFK speechwriter and adviser Ted Sorensen; John Vickery as Nikita Khruschev; and Jules Willcox as Jackie Kennedy. www.latw.org.  5/25-5/28 at the UCLA James Bridges Theater, 235 Charles E. Young Dr., LA, CA 90095; $15-$60; For info and tickets, call (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org.