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?
