The Bitter Queen
This website allows you to get a feel for the overall climate towards homosexuals in this time period.
http://www.bitterqueen.typepad.com/
The History of HIV up to 1986
This site shows a step by step history of HIV up to 1986. It allows us to track what information was available and how widespread the fear of AIDS, and thereby homosexuals, was in 1985.
http://www.avert.org/his81_86.htm
Mormon.org
This website allows us to look into the major religious group that is represented in this script.
http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/
Living with AIDS
This website gives us answers about how people live with AIDS. A lot of the fears are asauged also. A lot of questions are answered.
http://www.apositivelife.com/index.html
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Dramaturgs Statement
Angels in America
By Tony Kushner
A Dramaturgs Statement
By Charles Page
We all chose to do theater for different reasons. Some like the entertainment. Others enjoy the art. What we have to ask ourselves is why we are here. I believe that, when tackling a show as important and integrated into our current social picture as “Angels in America”, we absolutely must be honest with ourselves about why we are working on it. This show has many very heavy subjects that, if not treated properly, have the ability to be offensive on the most basic level. In productions in the past, when actors or designers have not given proper respect to the issues that are brought on stage in this show, it is easily noticeable. This script seems to reward those who put all they have into it and punish those who have short foresight. So when we attack this script we must do it with the most honorable of intentions and the most diligent of work.
Homosexuality is a major theme of this show. Not only homosexuality but the homosexual subculture and how it fit into the mainstream culture of 1985. We have to remember that it had only been three years since AIDS had officially named. Much about the disease was unknown. Some still thought that it was a plague brought on by the “gays”. The non acceptance of the homosexual man was nothing new. However this disease was used as some as a social weapon to condemn homosexual men. New York City sought to close down gay establishments under the guise of decreasing the risk of spreading the AIDS virus. Anywhere that catered to homosexual men where sexual contact “may” occur was closed down, either by direct or indirect methods such as tax reviews, audits, etc. This type of anti-homosexual hysteria is epitomized in the character Roy Cohn. He is belligerent at the idea that he may have a “gay disease”. This dynamic of the surrounding worlds view on homosexuality is very important to the script. Not taking into consideration what it was to walk through a world that, not only did not understand your lifestyle, but also blamed you for bringing an incurable disease upon the earth would be folly.
The architecture of 1985 New York City is pretty much the same as it is today (with the exception of the Twin Towers). The places where the show takes place seem to have a slight patina on them. Middle class would be the way that I would describe them. New York had the fashion but it was still a business center in 1985. The show deteriorates as it progresses. Maybe the set could do the same? A static set has brought many bad reviews. This show is not about big government. It is about individuals, both small and large, and the struggle that they must face dealing with a society that tells them they are bad when all they really want is to be happy. I think that this can translate into the set.
Another theme is the acceptance of the homosexual underground by the main characters that are gay. We see Louis “putting on the face”. In other words he is putting on women’s makeup to make himself feel pretty. This embrace of the drag queen (although being a drag queen does not necessarily indicate homosexuality!) is very important. Visiting the “bath” is another instance where the homosexual subculture is visible in the play. The baths were places where men would shower and meet for sex. Many of these were shut down in 1984-1986 in New York City along with several “leather bars” and many places that just catered to the homosexual community.
We must not only look at the homosexual community in 1985 but also the world in general. Many of us are old enough to remember 1985 but it is so easy to forget. Stevie Wonder was hot. The world seemed to be singing about love, compassion, and helping your fellow man, as evidenced by the “Live Aid” concert for famine relief in Ethiopia. While many thought that you could contract AIDS by shaking hands with a gay man artists were crooning about love. A-ha released “Take on me”, Foreigner wanted to know what love is, and stars from all walks of life recorded “We Are The World”.
All in all taking into account the world that was in 1985 in New York City will help this production from beginning to end. We have an opportunity to address the issues that this show serves up with aplomb and power.
Eductaional Packet
Angels In America
By Tony Kushner
Educators Packet
THE PLAY:
“Angels In America” is one of the most hotly debated theatrical productions of the late 20th century. It focuses on the stories of two troubled couples, one gay, one straight: "word processor" Louis Ironson and his lover Prior Walter, and Mormon lawyer Joe Pitt and his wife Harper. After the funeral of Louis's grandmother, Prior tells him that he has contracted AIDS, and Louis panics. Meanwhile, Joe is offered a job in the Justice Department by Roy Cohn, his right-wing, bigoted mentor and friend. But Harper, who is addicted to Valium and suffers anxiety and hallucinations, does not want to move to Washington.
The two couples' fates quickly become intertwined: Joe stumbles upon Louis crying in the bathroom of the courthouse where he works, and they strike up an unlikely friendship based in part on Louis's suspicion that Joe is gay. Harper and Prior also meet, in a fantastical mutual dream sequence in which Prior, operating on the "threshold of revelation," reveals to Harper that her husband is a closeted homosexual. Harper confronts Joe, who denies it but says he has struggled inwardly with the issue. Roy receives a different kind of surprise: At an appointment with his doctor Henry, he learns that he too has been diagnosed with AIDS. But Roy, who considers gay men weak and ineffectual, thunders that he has nothing in common with them—AIDS is a disease of homosexuals, and asserts that he has "liver cancer." Henry, disgusted, urges him to use his clout to obtain an experimental AIDS drug.
Prior's illness and Harper's terrors both grow worse. Louis strays from Prior's bedside to seek anonymous sex in Central Park at night. Fortunately, Prior has a more reliable caretaker in Belize, an ex-drag queen and dear friend. Prior confesses to Belize that he has been hearing a wonderful and mysterious voice; Belize is skeptical, but once he leaves we hear the voice speak to Prior, telling him she is a messenger who will soon arrive for him. As the days pass, Louis and Joe grow closer and the sexual tinge in their banter grows more and more obvious. Finally, Joe drunkenly telephones his mother Hannah in Salt Lake City to tell her that he is a homosexual, but Hannah tells him he is being ridiculous. Nonetheless, she makes plans to sell her house and come to New York to put things right. In a tense and climactic scene, Joe tells Harper about his feelings, and she screams at him to leave, while simultaneously Louis tells Prior he is moving out.
The disconsolate Prior is awakened one night by the ghosts of two ancestors who tell him they have come to prepare the way for the unseen messenger. Tormented by such supernatural appearances and by his anguish over Louis, Prior becomes increasingly desperate. Joe, equally distraught in his own way, tells Roy he cannot accept his offer; Roy explodes at him and calls him a "sissy." He then tells Joe about his greatest achievement, illegally intervening in the espionage trial of Ethel Rosenberg in the 1950s and guaranteeing her execution. Joe is shocked by Roy's lack of ethics. When Joe leaves, the ghost of Ethel herself appears, having come to witness Roy's last days on earth. In the climax of Part One, Joe follows Louis to the park, then accompanies him home for sex, while Prior's prophetic visions culminate in the appearance of an imposing and beautiful Angel who crashes through the roof of his apartment and proclaims, "The Great Work begins."
From: http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/angels/summary.html
THE AUTHOR:
Tony Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an award-winning American playwright most famous for his play Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is also co-author, along with Eric Roth, of the screenplay of the 2005 film Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and earned Kushner (along with Roth) an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
He was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan. His parents, William Kushner and Sylvia (Deutscher) Kushner, both classically trained musicians, moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana, the seat of Calcasieu Parish, shortly after his birth. During high school Kushner had a reputation in policy debate, at one point going to a camp, and making it to the final rounds. Kushner moved to New York in 1974 to begin his undergraduate college education at Columbia University, where he completed a B.A. in Medieval Studies [1] in 1978. He studied directing at New York University's Graduate School, from which he was graduated in 1984. During graduate school, he spent the summers of 1978-1981 directing both early original works (Masque of Owls and Incidents and Occurrences During the Travels of the Tailor Max) and Shakespearean plays (A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest) for the children attending the Governor's Program for Gifted Children (GPGC) in his home town of Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 2008, he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from SUNY Purchase College.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Kushner
PRODUCTION HISTORY AND REVIEWS:
Broadway debut at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 1993
Citizens Theater, Glasgow, UK, May 7th through the 12th 2007
To do justice to such an extraordinary play requires outstanding performances, with each actor playing up to seven different roles. Setting aside the frustrating blip of a very variable accent from Greg Hicks as Roy Cohn, a New York lawyer, this eight-strong cast is rock-solid. Kirsty Bushell, Mark Emerson, Ann Mitchell and the mesmerizing Golda Rosheuvel are particularly divine. Shona Craven
Canadian Stage's Berkeley Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct 1st 1996 through March 30, 1997: Its strength is its ability to place large, universal themes in the context of a strong contemporary narrative; KATE TAYLOR
Balliwick Rep., Chicago, IL, March 1st through April 30th 2006:
Villanova University (Vasey Hall), Villanaova, PA, Feb. 14th through the 23rd: Angels in America is a well-written, often lyrical work of sharply etched scenes of personal revelation and conflict, intertwined with humorous yet pertinent dreams and hallucinations. Douglas J. Keating
Van Wezel Hall, Sarasota, Florida, April 26, 1995: At a time when theater was in danger of becoming irrelevant as a vehicle for serious thought, the playwright created a world onstage that mirrored the complexities of modern American life. JOHN FLEMING
Kilgore Junior College, Kilgore, TX, November, 1999
As you can see this show has seen productions from the very large to the local regional junior college. It continues to be produced by a menagerie of production companies from the armature to the professional, on tour and in repertoire.
CLASSROOM EXERCISE
“1985”
Materials Needed: It is strongly suggested that your students read the script together or individually before you come see the production. Your students will need access to the internet or a library. Students will need writing materials or a computer to write their answers.
Exercise: Have the students answer the following questions in short answer form. After the students have completed the questions have a round-table style discussion to open their minds to the issues addressed in “Angels in America”.
Questions:
1. A very powerful political figure, Roy Cohn, is portrayed in a very negative light in this play. Who was Roy Cohn? Is his portrayal as a malevolent, hate monger accurate?
2. What famous people of the 1980’s contracted or died from HIV from 1980 to 1989?
3. In the show there are depictions of anonymous sex. Was there a homosexual sub-culture in 1985 that allowed for this type of activity? How and where did these actions take place? What was the view on these activities by the general public?
4. A character in the play has Kaposi sarcoma. What is this and who does it affect?
5. Have the views on homosexuality changed from the time when the play takes place? If so, How?
QUESTION AND ANSWER SECTION
There will be a question and answer session with the director, cast, and production team after the show. Here are five questions that will be included in the session.
1. Is this a social commentary or just another play?
2. The script gives very few details about setting other than places. How did you decide what these places would look like?
3. Why did you do the “sex in the park” scene the way that you did?
4. The subtitle of the show is “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes”; did this affect any of your decisions regarding the staging and direction of the play?
5. How has this play affected each of you in your professional and persona life?
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Produciton Photos
Boston Theatre Works, Boston, MA2008
Co-directors: Jason Southerland and Nancy Curran
Set Designer: Laura C. McPherson
Sound Design: Nathan Leigh
Lighting Designer: John Malinowski
Costume Designer: Rachel Padula Shufelt
Wing Designer: James Williston
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/0c7014ef65_29ange2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/arts_culture/view.bg%3Farticleid%3D1069606&h=275&w=315&sz=73&hl=en&start=67&um=1&tbnid=LIg9SOdwtrlBCM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAngels%2Bin%2Bamerica%2Btheater%2Bmillenium%26start%3D54%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLD_en___US222%26sa%3DN
Onstage Atlanta, Atlanta, GA2004
Director: Scott Rousseau
Lighting Designer: John David Williams
http://www.onstageatlanta.com/a_pastseasons.htm
Balliwick Rep., Chicago, IL2006
Set Design By Sean Graney
Light Design By Jared Moore
Sound Design By Michael Griggs & Mikhail Fiksel
http://chicagocritic.com/html/angels_in_america_part_i__ii.html
The Academy of Music at Hamilton High School, L.A., California2007
Staff Director/Designer
http://www.lenswoman.com/img/news/angels.jpg
UMASS Amherst, Amherst, MA2004
Director: M. Honatke Miller
Set Design: Miguel Romero
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)