The “Dawson’s Creek” reunion all started with Michelle Williams . One month after James Van Der Beek announced that he’d been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer, Williams reached out to creator Kevin Williamson.

“I jumped at the idea,” Williamson tells Variety exclusively. “She enlisted me, Thomas [Kail] and Greg [Berlanti] to help. From there, others joined the planning party. Jason Moore agreed to direct, and we were off and running. Picking a date took some time but our entire ‘Dawson’s Creek’ family was excited to do this and very accommodating and generous with their time.”

The event, set for Sept. 22, will benefit F Cancer and Van Der Beek, will be a live reading of the show’s 1998 pilot episode at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City. Van Der Beek, Williams, Ka

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