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Larry Kramer clearly understood that there were many different ways to get a crucial message out into the world. As an activist, Kramer was one of the driving forces behind the creation of ACTUP, an organization that pushed for increased research and public health funding during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s at a time when the disease’s association with the gay community increased the politics surrounding it. But he also became one of the first writers to give voice to the epidemic in dramatic form, with his 1985 play The Normal Heart. The story deals with several people facing the earliest days of AIDS in circa-1981 New York City. Writer/activist Ned Weeks is attempting to pull together an organization to spread the word about the as-yet-unnamed mystery illness affecting the city’s gay men; Dr. Emma Brookner, a medical researcher, tries to pull together what little information there is about the disease; Ned’s brother Ben, an attorney not particularly accepting of Ned’s sexuality; and Felix Turner, a reporter with whom Ned falls in love. Ned and his allies fight for funding into the disease and getting information into the media, even as those within Ned’s organization battle over
ThreePenny Theatre has a unique artistic mission, in its attempt to engage impoverished, lower income and homeless communities in the theatrical world. So it only seems appropriate that it would take on more experimental work, like Love and Information by Obie Award-winning playwright Caryl Churchill. Love and Information takes an unconventional route to exploring the role of technology in our modern lives, and how it impacts our interactions. The cast includes no characters identified by name, nor is the dialogue specifically assigned in the script to any specific character. That means the director and actors can create meaning of the scene by virtue of who is selected to read each line, and that every production is likely completely different from any other. “The breakneck speed at which scenes alternate between slicing chicken brains, watching far-off (maybe long dead) stars, walking through a house made of memories, falling in love with a virtual person, and answering non-sequitur trivia questions, potentially feels like a scattershot collage without purpose,” says director Jonah Ericson. “However, like all collage as an art form, through careful juxtaposition
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ThreePenny Theatre: Love and Information
whether their tactics should be more accommodating or confrontational. An Other Theater Company presents it’s delayed-from-2020 production of The Normal Heart June 15 – July 1 at Utah Valley University’s Ragan Theater (800 W. University Parkway, Orem), with performances Wednesdays – Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices are TBD at press time; visit anothertheater. org for tickets and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)
Churchill orchestrates a symphonic whole of questions and answers, emotions and logic. … The power in Churchill’s piece lies not in her universal understanding of the, albeit evocative, nouns of love and information, but in her understanding of communication.” ThreePenny Theatre’s production of Love and Information runs June 16 – 25 at the Utah Arts Alliance’s Arts Castle venue (915 W. 100 South). Performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with tickets a $20 suggested donation. Visit threepennytheatre. com/current-production for tickets and additional event information. (SR)
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An Other Theater Company: The Normal Heart
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