Angels in Fullerton
By Stan Jenson
Tony Kushner’s “Angels In America” has been described as the most important play of the past two decades. Set in the Reagan Era (1985-1986), it tackles the AIDS plague, race, sexuality, love, death, religion and the meaning of community. The play was first presented at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 1993. When it moved to Broadway, it received numerous awards, including a Tony for Best New Play and the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A few years ago, HBO produced it as a six-hour mini-series, and Al Pacino, Jeffrey Wright and Meryl Streep all received Golden Globes for their performances.
“Angels In America” is the type of script that even large, established companies approach with considerable trepidation. It therefore came as a surprise when Orange County gay theater company Theatre Out announced it as its next production. The catalyst that allowed the company to tackle such a major work was a joining of forces between Theatre Out and Fullerton’s Maverick Theater Company, co-branding the show as a joint production. Theatre Out had previously rented the Maverick’s theater, so the two companies knew what each other had to offer. They struck an agreement whereby Theatre Out will direct the show, and Maverick will provide the production components. Each company will promote it as part of its season, and the companies will share expenses and income.
Director Jack Millis, who, along with married couple Joey Baital and David Carnevale, founded Theatre Out in 2006, is thrilled by the cooperation and support they are receiving from Maverick. Playwright Kushner stated that he wanted the play performed in an over-the-top manner, and the numerous settings and technical effects can be very challenging. The Maverick production staff discussed options with Millis, and he is confident about the production.
“Angels In America” is a two-play epic, with each full-length drama running almost three hours. The Theatre Out production is “Part One: Millennium Approaches.” Combining elements of anger, instruction, intelligence, mysticism and liberal doses of humor, there are three interrelated plots. One member of a gay couple discovers he has AIDS. His partner is not prepared to care for him and leaves. Another couple, a straight attorney and his wife, questions the husband’s sexuality. The attorney is both Mormon and Republican, so his honesty embodies numerous levels of difficulty. His boss, politico Roy Cohn, is a real-life figure from the period and one of the most interesting and complex characters in the play. Cohn believes that his gayness is a sign of weakness and an obstacle to his struggle for political power. When he is diagnosed with AIDS, he goes into denial and claims it is liver cancer. The real Cohn was disbarred and shamed before his death.
Other key players are the attorney’s pill-addicted wife, her mother and an ex-drag-queen nurse who looks after the pair of AIDS patients.
The production presents difficulties at every level. Some characters are based on fact and were researched so they could be presented accurately. Millis chuckles that a couple of his actors are only 21 and weren’t even born during the period when the play is set, so there have been numerous history lessons during rehearsals. There is a significant fantasy element to the script, including an angel that crashes through the roof and into the room. Several characters are looking into the eyes of death, an alien concept to such young actors.
The design team must smoothly carry the action through numerous Manhattan settings. Most of the characters have multiple layers, like Cohn, who denies his gay activities to everyone, including himself, even when faced with an AIDS diagnosis. And lastly, eight actors are called upon to present a host of characters, with each actor assigned one major role and several minor ones.
Although AIDS doesn’t carry the inviolate death sentence that it once did, the objectivity of time gives this script added value. Millis finds a similarity to the film Milk, which also is educating a new generation about Anita Bryant, John Briggs and the status of gays in history. “Angels In America” has value for audiences of all ages, and our hopes are high for this production by our “home team” gay theater company.
“Angels In America” plays through Feb. 8, with performances on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. at The Maverick Theater, located at 110 E. Walnut Ave. in Fullerton. Tickets are $20 (students, $10) and are available at www.mavericktheater.com or at (714) 526-7070. The show runs approximately three-and-one-half hours, and a catered pre-show dinner is available on Saturdays.