• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 381 835 CS 508 902 AUTHOR Carr, John C. TITLE "Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches." Spotlight on Theater Notes. INSTITUTION John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. PUB DATE [95) NOTE 17p.; Produced by the Performance Plus Program, Kennedy Center Education Department. Funding also provided by the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund. For other guides in this series, see CS 508 903-906. PUB TYPE Guides General (050) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Acquired Immune Defi-:ency Syndrome; Acting; *Cultural Enrichment; *Drama; Higher Education; Homophobia; Homosexuality; Interviews; Playwriting; Popular Culture; Program Descriptions; Secondary Education; United States History IDENTIFIERS American Myths; *Angels in America ABSTRACT This booklet presents a variety of materials concerning the first part of Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes." After a briefintroduction to the play, the booklet presents a description of the prinipal characters in the play, a profile of the playwright, information on funding of the play, an interview with the playwright, descriptions of some of the motifs in the play (including AIDS, Angels, Roy Cohn, and Mormons), a quiz about plays, biographical information on actors and designers, and a 10-item list of additional readings. (RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ****):***:%****************************************************)%*****)%* rgrg,-7, ?ca-oiir. 11" 4";- :r -tt 1: MILLENIUM APPROACHES S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION C Oiiico of educabons, Research and Impro40Manl I EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it MeilMiSR Minor changes have boon made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent 7,1;:g:TE7474"L'.1-Ea -Composed of two-----Ef---7-TSo-within that seemingly-loomog_eritous- OA:potential r. - dependentplaysunitthere is enormou&r.onflict Aim\ ..Fehes and Pefestraika7'77-Icireruptiorf." ns in the Eisenhower What Millennium ApprOcitheriiridPerestroika for which show is how the erigitizikiir4rsandhow it ------NENEEto4une 8. Perestroika; hours, arate Spotlight on Theater _ affects all those involv.-ece:-W41,seven . itkrur-Apne 9 to July 9. the crazy mix of charaffis7:1Wepjgrgy_of time to collide, confrontone another and dis- LENNIUMAPPROACHES card what they believe in, then totiirn-.sloWly_ Frank Rich, former theater critic forThe New back and, confronted with their ownde*ticf,-,_ --- York Times, points out thatAngels in America is tion in various forms, seek outwhat among the "a political call to arms for the age ofAIDS, but might still prove to be true."** it is no polemic. [Playwright TonyKushner's] To provide a synopsis of thethree acts of convictions about power and justice are Millennium Approaches would take awayfrom matched by his conviction that the stage...is a the pleasures of its subtleties andsurprises. It is space large enough toaccommodate every- helpful to be aware of the cast ofcharacters thing from precise realism to surrealistichallucina- (see list, page 3) and to knowthat the plot tions, from black comedy to religiousrevelation."* weaves two storiesinto one fabric. in one, the by Roy Cohn to Kushner explained in a 1993 interviewpub- latent homosexual, Joe, is hired in Washing- lished in The Chicago Tribune that the twoplays work with the Justice Department personal agenda. In that make up Angels in America are"about ton to help achieve Cohn's Approaches, the the other, Louis must decidewhether to care pairs of people. In Millennium lover, Prior couples are drawn so that they make overt for his AIDS-afflicted homosexual Walter, or leave him. The sense. Republicans are with stories interrelate with Republicans, Mormons are Plagwright Tong Kushner chose these lines one another in a rever- with Mormons, gays are with from Stanleg Kum tz. s The TestingTree.' to berating fashion. gays, straights are with straights. It is all neatly set up, Rpproaches *Frank Rich, "Embracing All precede the script for Millennium_ . but then it doesn't work Possibilities in Art and Life," because of all sorts of internal -In a murderous time The New York Times, May 5, 1993. stresses: the Mormon who is the heart breaks and breaks **Amy Schwartz, "Final Things married is gay, and one [mem- on Broadway," The Washington ber] of the gay couple has AIDS Post, December 23, 1994. and the other can't deal with it. and lives btj breaking.- 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 '',41.47A, -4- - ; latItr11111111 ' 1AgiPT 11 itg III I 7h 41/1//ri I illI t't 4.- THE 1 4/ ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS WHO APPEAR IN rincipatCharactets,-,-,/ ,JALLENNIUM APPROACHES OF ANGELONIMETIICA ' An Orthodox Jewish rabbi MILLENNIUM APPROACHES_,_ MR. LIES: Harper's imaginary friend/travel agent AND PERESTROIKA 717 MAN IN THE PARK: A man Louis picks up in Central Park ROY M. COHN: The powerful New York lawyer HENRY: Roy Cohn's physician who rose to fame through his association with Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Army- EMILY: Prior's nurse McCarthy Hearings (see notes, page 11) MARTIN HELLER: A Justice Department public Louis !RONSON: A word processor for the relations representative Second Circuit Court of Appeals SISTER ELLA CHAPTER: A Salt Lake City real estate agent JOSEPH PORTER PITT: Chief clerk for Justice PRIOR 1: The ghost of a Prior Walter ancestor Theodore Wilson of the Federal Court of Appealsof the 13th century HARPER AMATY PITT: Joe's wife, an agoraphobicPRIOR 2: The ghost of a ONEOF THE THINGS I wanted to explore with a mild Valium addiction Prior Walter ancestor of the 18th century [in Angels in America] was how legiti- HANNAH PORTER PITT: Joe's mother ESKIMO: "A fisher of the mate is the notion of community It is a PRIOR WALTER: Louis's boyfriend, who some- polar deep" fundamental American question times works as a club designer and caterer ETHEL ROSENBERG: because that's what the country is BELIZE: A registered nurse and former drag The ghost of the woman a community comprised of not only queen. Also Prior's former lover. Original name:executed for transmitting Norman Arriaga atomic secrets to the different [constituencies) but hostile THE ANGEL: Four divine emanations Fluor, Soviet Union (see note, ones, and irreconcilably so.- Phosphor, Lumen and Candlein one being page 11) Tony Kushner, Chicago Tribune, April 25.1993. 3. 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE For Millennium Approaches he received the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award for Best Play, Nag right: Tog Kushner and London's Evening Standard and Critics' Cir- cle Awards, among numerous others. \t 39, playwright Tony Kushner findshim- Kushner is working on the screenplay for An- self one of the most acclaimed playwrights gels in America, which will be directed by in the Western world. The unprecedented Robert Altman. A list of his published plays attention and praise given to Angels in America is will appear in the Spotlight on Theater Notes the stuff of writers' dreams. for Angels in America, Perestroika. But, as Kushner points * The New York Times, April 12, 1993. out as though cautioning himself, "Celebrity does sick things to people. I'm still sort of a nerd. I'm a Support very insecure person." At FROM THE KENNEDY CENTER FUND the same time, the play- FOR NEW AMERICAN PLAYS wright is quick to say, "I he writing of Angels in America, do believe that I'm a Millennium Approaches was supported by great writer.I think I'm a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund interesting, that I have a for New American Plays. reasonably sophisticated When playwright Tony Kushner was awarded political analysis, which in the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Millennium Approaches, America is not the usual thing. As an American it marked the third time in what was then the writer, I feel I have an obligation to uphold the Fund's eighth year that a grant recipient literary tradition of overreaching one's self."* achieved that recognition. Preceding him Kushner was born in Brooklyn, New York, but spent were Wendy Wasserstein for TheHeidi Chronicles most of his younger years in Lake Charles,Louisiana. and Robert Schenkkan for The Kentucky Cycle. He returned to New York to study at ColumbiaUni- Established by the Kennedy Center's founding versity and, later, at New York University. chairman Roger L. Stevens, the Fund supports playwrights in their writing and helps to fi- Kushner feels that his homosexuality is not only nance productions of their works in the na- central to his identity but is a key to understand- tion's leading regional theaters. To date, the ing his work. Fund has provided $2 million-plus in seed In addition to playwriting, Kushner has been As- money to nearly 50 playwrightsand theaters. sociate Director of the New York Theatre Work- Each year, all not-for-profit theaters in the na- shop and Director of Literary Services for the tion are invited to subm.t up to three plays Theatre Communications Group. He has taught with proposals for funding. Each play is read playwriting at Princeton University and is play- by the chairman and director of the Fund and wright-in-residence at New York's Juilliard School by the Fund's artistic advisors10 leading of Drama. His writing of Millennium Approaches theater professionalswho constitute the se- was supported lection committee. by the Kennedy The Kennedy Center Fund for New American ONEOF THE TIM I learned from Center Fund for Plays is a project of the John F. Kennedy Cen- I being in the closet and then corn- New American ter for the Performing Arts with support from Plays and the i-g out is how much stronger and the American Express Company in coopera- tion with the President's Committee on the National Endow- more fun life can be.(Referring to Arts and the Humanities.

Load more

  17

Copy Link