An angel, a Valium-addicted Mormon and a big shot New York lawyer crippled with AIDS: audience members experienced it all the MU Theatre Department’s performance of “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches,” which ran from April 25 – 27 and continues May 2 – 5.
Playwright Tony Kushner, who also wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning film “Lincoln,” wrote the play in the early ‘90s in the heart of the AIDS epidemic that swept America in the latter half of the 20th century. “Millenium Approaches” is set in New York between October 1985 and January 1986. Characters struggle with sexuality, AIDS and political controversies of the time.
“His play brought to clear light exactly how this disease was ravaging both the powerful and the powerless,” Director David Crespy said in an email. “At the same time … it was impossibly optimistic and filled with spiritual hope that simply was in very short supply.”
In addition to this production, the MU Theatre Department hosted a number of events about gay and lesbian theater throughout the week as part of its “Angels in Performance: Documenting LGBTQ Lives in Theatre and Performance” conference.
“The fact that Kushner was so prescient is incredible,” Crespy said. “His ability to document the lives of a community is a huge part of what we’re trying to do with this conference.”
Other events included an interview with Kushner by Crespy on Wednesday and a panel on Lanford Wilson, an influential playwright in the LGBTQ community, on Friday.
“It matters to me that our students engage with the finest playwrights and directors from the professional theater that I can bring to Mizzou,” Crespy said. “He (Kushner) brought such electricity and excitement to the conference and production.”
Crespy said that he selected the play Kushner’s work was “life-changing,” not only for himself but also for other writers. Lots of research had to go into the play for ideal execution.
“Emotionally, because of the nature of the material, we had to work very closely with our dramaturg Meg Davis,” Crespy said, “to research all the various aspects of the 1980s, AIDS, the NYC LGBTQ community, the social and cultural history, politics, and just all the various literary references of the play.”
Kushner watched a dress rehearsal Wednesday and then met with the cast Thursday to discuss what the play meant to him.
“It was interesting to … compare what we had garnered from the play and what he was saying,” cast member Caitlin Reader said. “It was cool to hear … what led him to write the play with the crucial events of the time.”
The cast also rehearsed “Perestroika,” the second part of “Angels in America,” and performed a stage reading open to the public Sunday.
Freshman Alex Sopata read “Angels in America” and attended a dress rehearsal for an English class. She said this is the first play she has seen by the MU Theatre Department.
“I thought it was done really well, and they did the performance just like Tony Kushner would want them to do it,” Sopata said. “I expected it to be a little bit more censored … I’m glad they didn’t censor it because it captured more of the real thing.”
Crespy said that the show was cast Feb. 21 and rehearsals began Feb. 23. Reader said the cast rehearsed between 15 to 20 hours in the weeks since.
“It’s been a very incredible experience,” Reader said. “We have a lot of trust between the actors. We all helped each other out and put something great together.”
