PL AYBILL angels in america
Angels in America PART I: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES PART II: PERESTROIKA Tony Kushner }{
a pproxim at e ru n n i ng t im e: pa rt i: 3 hou rs long w i t h t wo 15 m i nu t e i n t er m issions pa rt ii: 3 hou rs long w i t h t wo 15 m i nu t e i n t er m issions
ARTIST NOTE: DAMIEN ATKINS Angels in America changed my life. Twice. I read it just after I’d come out, around 1994. Can you imagine? A play with gay men at the centre of a political and social epic, a play in which a gay man is finally chosen to speak on behalf of all of humanity. The play helped me to understand that everything is political, and politics can be life and death. Years later, as I began to rehearse the play, I realized that Angels in America is also (and perhaps most importantly) a call to citizenship, a desperate cry for all the living to care more about each other – to find in our lives, and in our words, more compassion. The play implores us – dares us – to have as much compassion for Roy Cohn, who says and does unspeakable things, as we do for Prior and Harper and Louis and everyone else. AIDS isn’t over. Every year millions of people die because they can’t afford the anti-retrovirals that will keep them alive. Even those who can afford the care they need still face discrimination and hate and neglect. And the competing forces of collectivism and individualism – with their consonant political expressions and machinations – are still engaged in a fierce struggle for the soul of humanity. Which means that Angels in America is not a period piece. Like The Glass Menagerie, The Crucible, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and other classics, this play speaks with a voice as loud and as vital as the day it was written.
In addition to the eight actors you will see onstage, there is a very skilled running crew that works to bring this play to you. They are listed in your programme but their contribution is so extreme they deserve to be named here as well: Arwen, Emily, Emma, Natalie, Jacqueline, Erika, Benn, Megan, Zach, Syd - every single one as deeply committed as the actors to giving voice to Tony Kushner’s fierce, agonized, devastating and devastatingly hopeful play. And there are ghosts too. There is, of course, not nearly enough space, not by a mile, to list all the people who died and are dying from this plague – some of them lovingly cared for, and some of them alone and in horrific pain. We cannot name them all here. But we will do our best to carry their spirits with us tonight as we labour to bring this story to life for you. Because of them, we know: angels are real. DAMIEN ATKINS, Prior Walter in Angels in America