Resurrecting Angels in America

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-02 05:02:00 UTC
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Angels in America

There's no cast put in place yet, nor any plans behind how to mount a performance of one of Broadway's epic shows in an intimate, off-Broadway theater, but Angels in America, one of the first plays to deal exclusively with the subject of HIV/AIDS and its onslaught within the gay (especially gay male) population is staged for a comeback in 2010.

The show, written by Tony Kushner, is set in 1985-1986 during the height of the Reagan administration and nearly five years into the HIV/AIDS crisis.  Technically, Angels is two shows - “Part 1: Millennium Approaches” and “Part 2: Perestroika”.  And it interweaves stories from those dealing with HIV/AIDS - a gay male couple, real right-wing lawyer Roy Cohn - as well as a story involving coming out amidst a heaping helping of religious indoctrination (a closeted Mormon lawyer, and his sedated wife).

The show is expected to open in late Fall or Winter 2010.  Interestingly enough, the show comes back to life at a time when HIV/AIDS numbers are back on the rise.  Perhaps a tie-in educational/advocacy campaign is in order?

We'll leave with one of the best quotes from Angels, from the protagonist, Prior.  It's all about being addicted to life.  Take it away:

But still. Still bless me anyway. I want more life. I can't help myself. I do. I've lived through such terrible times and there are people who live through much worse. But you see them living anyway. When they're more spirit than body, more sores than skin, when they're burned and in agony, when flies lay eggs in the corners of the eyes of their children - they live. Death usually has to take life away. I don't know if that's just the animal. I don't know if it's not braver to die, but I recognize the habit; the addiction to being alive. So we live past hope. If I can find hope anywhere, that's it, that's the best I can do. It's so much not enough. It's so inadequate. But still bless me anyway. I want more life.

(Photo courtesy of Bobster855's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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