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| How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 09:05 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 08:51 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| And... is there any reason to think that today's theater artists might not have similar things to say about the current pandemic? Would we support those works? Are we too deeply "in it" now to imagine how we might react in the future? More than anything, I wonder if the way that AIDS disproportionately affected gay men -- and killed an untold number of gay men working within professional theatre -- made it a more pointed, poignant subject, considering how close to home its horrible wrath was? Is the suffering and death toll of COVID-19 in America -- and its disproportionate impact on a different minority community this time (black and brown working class people) -- too far away from the theater community for us to care about discussing it within new theater works the way we possibly could? - GMB |
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| re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Last Edit: whereismikeyfl 07:55 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 07:51 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:51 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| There was work in the performance clubs before Off-Broadway and Broadway discovered AIDS. There were plays and performances about the crisis starting around 1983, right when the clubs started springing up. Unfortunately, the work was not well documented and much of it is lost. Dancetheater artist John Bernd was one of the earliest diagnosed people and dealt with his condition in his work (which was usually autobiographical). I believe his work is well archived. The Lincoln Center Library probably has some material as him, but because he mixed genres, I do not know if he would be in the theater collection or the dance. I am not a fan of Tim Miller, but I think he also was talking about AIDS early on. I want to say he treated it in Democracy in America from 1984 even though it was not the main theme. The script is (I think) published and can be checked. |
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| First AIDS Play plus: Tim Miller | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 10:14 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - whereismikeyfl 07:51 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I was there. The play considered the first to be overtly about AIDS (according to a number of histories of AIDS and the arts I have read) was a one-man monodrama (is that redundant? it was a solo actor playing one character) called "One," produced (I believe) by Lionheart in Chicago (an LGBT theater company developed by designer Rick Paul, playwright and critic Richard Pollack, and others). It was written by Jeff Hagedorn, a Chicago playwright, who would eventually die of complications from AIDS. (I do not know whether he was already ill when he wrote it.) It premiered, I believe, in 1984 (might have been as early as 1983--I am sure if I Googled it I could find out). Now, here's the Sophia Petrillo part of the story. I had been in a relationship with Richard Pollack for two years, during which time he dallied once with Jeff Hagedorn. (I blush to be so personal here.) One and done, as they say. In 1982, Richard's play "Banalities" was produced by Lionheart and a handsome, young actor was cast in the role based on Richard. I was busy toiling away writing my dissertation at Northwestern at the time, so did not attend rehearsals (I sound like Karen Richards during "Aged in Wood," I realize). During the rehearsal period, Richard and said young actor began their own affair, which ended in the end of our relationship. Fast forward to 1984. I have returned to Chicago, from a year teaching in the theatre department at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, having completed my Ph.D. and looking for a job, doing data entry at my alma mater to pay rent. I picked up a copy of Gay Chicago (one of the local "bar rags," though with excellent news coverage and arts criticism) and read a review by Richard Pollack. I thought enough time had passed (our parting was acrimonious--mirroring the parting of lovers in his play) and I wrote him, saying it was good to see his writing again (he was a wonderful, if sometimes wicked critic--he also wrote for the Chicago Reader and did some capsule reviews for Chhicago magazine and was on the Jeff Committee, so during our time together I saw just about everything onstage in Chicago). He wrote back--it seemed he and his young swain had also parted, and we went on a few tentative dates (and were on again, off again for the next three years or so, as I took teaching jobs in NY State and then Nebraska; we broke up a second time and he died a few months later--he had lived for decades with dystonia and his body gave out at 42--I was 30 at the time). The summer of 84, "One" was playing a second time or perhaps as an extension and for the last weekend or so, the original actor left to do other work and was replaced by--yes, you guessed it--by the young actor RP had left me for in 1981. So, we decided we had to attend the closing performance, a hot Sunday night. By then, I think the play had exhausted its audience potential, and we were two of perhaps four or five audience members--and the actor clearly knew we were there. (Richard's dystonia gave him an unmistakeable gait and appearance.) I can't say I remember much about the play, other than it was brave of Hagedorn (whom I didn't think much of, even before he took my fellow for a weekend) to write so early about the illness (and if he was already ill, it was not, IIRC, part of the publicity around the show--and remember, this was before testing for the virus was available in any widespread way), though a cynical part of me also thought it might be opportunistic, so to speak. But, decades later, I prefer to think of it as a genuine, serious attempt to speak of the crisis in the community in a dramatic fashion. I do not think the play was ever published, though my guess is it was produced elsewhere. I know Hagedorn's papers are in a university archive--again, I would have to look to find out. And that, Marjorie (as we say), is the night the lights went out in Georgia. P.S. I AM a fan of Tim Miller (and consider him a friend), both for his own bravery as an artist (one of the NEA casualties) and his generosity as a teacher and warrior. I brought him to Ithaca College about five or six years ago and he did an open workshop on personal narrative for students drawn from all over campus and did a performance for us. One of the students who participated in the workshop was a young man who went blind at age 14--he was a football player/wrestler and had trouble breathing one weekend, was taken to an ER, and a tumor the size of a grapefruit was found in his chest. They operated, saving his life, but the cancer came back four months later, this time hitting the optic nerves. He was wheeled into the operating room with two hours notice, told his mother that, if he as to go blind, he was glad hers was the last face he would see. When Tim Miller came, Tim (my student) had acquired a wonderful service dog, Lang, who participated in the workshop, leading my student safely through the physical activities. Later that year, my student went to a performance festival and did a haunting personal narrative performance about hiking the Grand Canyon blind--I know Tim Miller's careful, if brief work with him helped him make the performance more than a "poster child" piece of crip inspiration. My Tim went on to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and plans to cycle (with a companion) across the country, to raise money and awareness for disability causes. So, whatever other folks may think of Mr. Miller, I am indeed a fan. |
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| Thank you! (nm) | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 09:20 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - whereismikeyfl 07:51 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| nm means nightmarish morning | |
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| re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 10:23 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
| In reply to: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - GrumpyMorningBoy 08:51 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| To answer the question in your title, William Hoffman's As Is and Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart were both produced off-Broadway in the spring of 1985, about four years after AIDS was identified as a specific disease. There may have been earlier plays on the subject, but I'm not aware of them. | |
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| For what it's worth, I saw "As Is" on Broadway, at the Lyceum, in late 1985. | |
| Posted by: tmdonahue 08:28 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - keikekaze 10:23 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| It ran for 285 performances. "Normal Heart" eventually was revived on Broadway in 2011, with an all-star cast, and ran 86 performances. Given the company, I imagine it was a limited-run from the start. |
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| As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: For what it's worth, I saw "As Is" on Broadway, at the Lyceum, in late 1985. - tmdonahue 08:28 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| 1985 was definitely the year when the mainstream culture started discussing AIDS. I was 19 and I saw As Is, too. (I never saw The Normal Heart, even though the NYSF/Public was on my theatre radar). As Is received three Tony nominations for Best Play, Director (Marshall Mason) and Actor (Jonathan Hogan). My ears were attuned to the crisis so maybe I exaggerated the feeling, but it seemed to me that there was a lot of attention in theatre, film and TV between 1985 and 1990. As soon as Rock Hudson died (1985) it started being talked about on network TV. An Early Frost was broadcast on ABC November 11, 1985, just a month after Hudson's death. It was a big deal that a hot young straight actor (Aidan Quinn) was playing a gay man and two Hollywood legends (Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands) were his parents. In 1986 the film Parting Glances was released (starring a beautiful young Steve Buscemi) and then in 1987 Randy Shilts' book And the Band Played On was released. And in 1989 came the ensemble drama Longtime Companion which really highlighted the effects on a whole community. After that it felt to me like the subject had been co-opted by straight filmmakers and filmgoers. Maybe Philadelphia's huge success was the apotheosis. And after AZT was available and proving effective (which coincided with Reagan finally acknowledging the disease) some of the immediacy of the despair and sorrow began to lift. (Admittedly this is very subjective.) By the time Angels in America got to Broadway in 1993 I thought there was already a sense of it being a history play. Very recent and raw, but still something that was past. Whereas As Is felt so immediate and shattering. |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 10:20 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I think of As Is and The Normal Heart as very different kinds of plays--the former more a domestic drama, with the public world in briefer interludes, but the focus on the couple; the latter more overtly and didactically political. As Is had more grace and nuanced emotion; The Normal Heart more sound and fury, signifying much. I am eternally grateful we had both. I think the Showtime version of As Is shows up for sale (used) on VHS from time to time. I think it would hold up perfectly fine, though, of course, some of the specific details would be limited by what was known and experienced by the time it was written. I wrote the playwright one of my only fan letters after I read it (it was published quickly), and he responded with a lovely note. I believe Hoffman became an academic and died just a few years ago. There are all kinds of ways of doing activism--his is, to me, as admirable as Kramer's (and I came top admire Kramer deeply--THINK what drama he would have made of all we are living through!) | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 08:11 am EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - BruceinIthaca 10:20 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I think you are exactly right. I have only seen The Normal Heart in adulthood so I don't know how my 19-year old self would have processed it, but As Is felt like a very traditional, well-made play about a subject that had never been discussed in that way. I remember both Hogan and Hadary being wonderful and I left with a terrible crush on Lou Liberatore! (It was also my first time inside the exquisite Lyceum Theatre.) And in those days seeing anything about gay life- even something very tragic- was exciting for me. I also had the published script. Did you have the same one as I did? It was a tiny little hardcover, I seem to remember. Almost like the sides that actors get on film and TV sets every day. It's too bad The Normal Heart eclipsed As Is so completely. Mainly because Larry Kramer was such a high=profile activist, I guess. Getting that revival brought it to a whole new generation and it might have gotten extra glow from Angels' success, as it seemed to be a direct antecedent to Kushner's masterpiece. (Which then spawned another epic The Inheritance.) Didn't Hoffman write opera libretti after As Is? |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: larry13 10:32 am EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 08:11 am EST 02/19/21 | |
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| Hoffman did write the libretto for John Corigliano's opera "Ghosts of Versailles," commissioned by the Met. | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: dbdbdb 12:33 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I saw As Is several times. I always imagined it was rather like one of the Living Newspaper productions of the WPA. Although the main thread of the script followed the characters played by Jonathan Hadary and Jonathan Hogan, it was loaded with episodes and minor characters that gave a sense of the epidemic speaking through the entire community. It was extremely powerful at the time although something tells me it wouldn't hold up as well today, certainly not compared to The Normal Heart. | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: mattyp4 01:17 am EST 02/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - dbdbdb 12:33 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
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| It was extremely powerful at the time although something tells me it wouldn't hold up as well today, certainly not compared to The Normal Heart. I saw the Regeneration Theatre production of As Is a few years back. I had only learned about the play a few years earlier & being a huge fan of The Normal Heart, I was very much looking forward to seeing a staged production. And it was.... okay. I had read the text by then so I knew the story, but the play still felt extremely dated & subdued. Granted it could have been the caliber of the production, but The Normal Heart still feels urgent, gripping & devastating to me. (I do very much appreciate As Is for being a pioneer AIDS play & I have been desperate to see the TV movie from 1986.) |
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| Link | Regeneration Theatre production of As Is |
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| re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 11:22 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - keikekaze 10:23 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| I think your answer also gives a clue about the difference. Unless we have horrifically miscalculated, this disease will be no more than a shadow after four years, and we will be grappling with other, even thornier issues (climate change, systemic racism, the radical right, power grids, etc etc etc). We HAVE a vaccine for covid, we have multiple vaccines in fact. Although we had a president who tried to ignore it a la Reagan, covid could not be hidden. I don't think it will prove interesting in the rear view mirror, and I think the manifestation of crises in poor and minority communities that covid uncovered will be expressed in present tense issues, not more stories about covid. AIDS didn't go away; it still hasn't. There was a fantastic play about covid, the docudrama that the Public streamed over the summer about the healthcare workers, The Line. That was present tense. It still haunts. | |
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| re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 05:15 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - ryhog 11:22 pm EST 02/17/21 | |
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| I suspect that your predictions are more or less correct. Even though covid has by no means gone away, it seems that we as a society already have even more pressing concerns, and have had ever since the pandemic began. | |
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| re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 05:59 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: re: How quickly did the American theater begin writing about / discussing / producing works about AIDS? - keikekaze 05:15 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I've thought about this a little more since I wrote. I think covid may be inseverable from some of the bigger issues that manifested in 2020, and will likely be pressing concerns in the years to come: anti-science, radical right politics, inequality, etc. I think we will see plays about all of those and covid may leak into many of them. But I don't think it will be focused in the way that the AIDS plays have been. | |
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