The Oswego State University Theatre Department will round out their 2000-2001 season with the sobering production of Angels In America Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner, April 24, 25, 26, 28 and 29. The show will be one of the last directed by the esteemed Ron Medici before his retirement. Curtain times are 8:00 p.m. on April 24, 25, 26 and 28; and 2:00 p.m. for the matinee performance on Sunday, April 29. The show is recommended for mature audiences.
Taking Broadway by storm in 1993, Angels is a gay fantasia on national themes which won critical acclaim, wowed audiences and took home the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the spring of 1993. The show also took home the Tony for Best Play and the Outstanding New Play Award from the Drama Desk Awards. The unconventional play is set during the Reagan-Bush years when the AIDS epidemic was being uncovered. The story line follows a gay couple, one of whom is dying of AIDS; a Mormon man who is just waking to his homosexuality and his agoraphobic wife, and Roy Cohn, the power-mongering reactionary lawyer who died of AIDS in 1986. The show's witty and cynical dialogue reflects the uncertainty and fear of our nation's conscience at the height of the AIDS epidemic.
Director Ron Medici has cast 19 actors and actresses for the show and looks to keep the play true to the original produced on Broadway. The show appealed to Medici because of the controversial content and evolution of the characters. "It is the job of theatre to explore and depict the controversy we as humans face in our lives," says Medici. He also cites the play as one that is perfect for the college theatre and should be produced here. "Angels, the ideas and story lines depicted within the play are what college theatre is about."
Angels in America is a show on sex, politics, religion, faith, and learning to love oneself and truly love another. It follows a group of people trying to make sense of a world that has no answers. Characters often switch between reality and fantasy in a search for spirituality and human decency while confronting the notion of life and death.
Angels is for mature audiences only. Audiences are cautioned that the performance includes mature themes, language, smoking, sexual situations and nudity.
A preview performance will be held on Tuesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. with a general admission price of $4. Performances on April 25, 26, 28 and 29 are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and students and $6 for Oswego State University students with a valid ID.
Images from rehearsals & set construction