Angels in America:A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Photo: http://hewholaughs.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/angels-in-america-5.jpg

What is Angels in America?A seven-hour theater piece written by Tony KushnerBroken into two parts: Millennium Approaches and PerestroikaTurned into a six-part miniseries on HBOA social commentary on gay culture and AIDS in the 1980’sThe play is about the interactions of eight major characters and their personal and sexual relationships.

Its Success

First premiered on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater on May 4, 1993 for 18 monthsKushner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for Angels in AmericaIn 1993 the director and two of the actors won Tony Awards for the Broadway productionThe HBO TV-series won 11 Emmy awards and 5 Golden Globe Awards in 2004

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The Playwright: Tony KushnerGrew up in the small, conservative town of Lake Charles, LouisianaMoved to New York City to attend Columbia UniversityCame out to his mother in 1981 on a pay phone in Central ParkLost many friends and relationships to HIV/AIDS in the 80’s - gave him his inspiration behind Angels in America

Photo: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/04/03/images/tonyKushner.jpg

Photo: http://meerchant.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/angels2.jpg

Hannah Pitt

The Angel

Louis Ironson

Harper Pitt

Roy Cohn

Prior Walter

Belize

Joe Pitt

Prior and LouisIn a relationship until Prior tells Louis about his diagnosisPrior struggles with his sickness as well as his partner abandoning himLouis struggles to realize that he is unable to accept the reality of diseaseAs Prior turns his life around and rejects Louis’ advances to come back him, Louis spirals into loneliness.

Photo: http://i.cdn.hbo.com/assets/images/movies/angels-in-america/slideshows/angles-in-america-02-1024.jpg

Joe PittA Mormon raised man that struggles with his sexual identity and his responsibility to his faithHe cares for his wife, Harper, a valium addict, that he feels responsible for savingAfter meeting Louis, Joe leaves his wife to start an unhealthy relationship with a very broken Louis

Photo: http://www.patrickwilson.org/images/Angels6.jpg

Roy CohnA closeted homosexual that discovers he has AIDS. Refusing to let others know his sexuality, he tells everyone he is dying of liver cancerIs on the brink of being disbarred after a career as a lawyer due to his unlawful practices as he worked for Senator McCarthy during the Red Scare.Is frequently visited by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, a woman he slyly made sure was convicted as a Soviet spy.

Photo: http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080417/Al-Pacino/Angels-In-America_l.jpg

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fBiOVEcyI&feature=related

AIDS in the 1980’sWas originally for in the US in small communities of gay men in New York and CaliforniaTitled GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) or Gay Compromise Syndrome In Angels, Kushner compares the sickness of Prior to Roy. Prior takes care of himself and eventually gets on treatment and slightly healthier. Roy, living in denial, dies soon after his diagnosis.Photo: http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/salinas/students/student_sites/Spring2007/jap757/quilt.jpg

Why Angels in America?

Kushner appeals to his audiences’ emotions.His characters make bad choices, are good and evil, are REALISTIC.It’s a commentary on a time in Gay culture that is shadowed in sadness and loss, but it is important.