Angels at Duke
Tony Kushner's award-winning play, Angels In America, Part One: Millennium Approaches played in Sheafer Theater in the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus April 2005.
Angels won Kushner two Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, and an HBO film version of the play won a record 11 Emmys. "The brilliant reputation of the play is reason enough for us to produce it at Duke," says Jeff Storer, faculty director of the play. "But from an academic standpoint, it is vitally important as well. The play takes place in a moment in time in the 80s, about when Duke undergrads were being born, and it is essential for these kids to learn about that time to understand who they are now and who we are as a country.
"The play is set when the AIDS epidemic was sweeping the nation, and the Reagan administration's response, or lack thereof, had a tremendous impact on society, on politics, on public policy. And the conservative counter-revolution was heating up. The play has so much to teach us if we don't want to be doomed to repeat the past," say Storer.
"Angels In America is an explosion of theatrics and thrillingly exciting theater," adds Storer. "This play has an urgency that all theater doesn't have. It doesn't politely ask if it can be a part of our world--it demands that it be looked at. It is revelatory not only in terms of its message, but also in its design and sound and special effects--it is wonderful theatrics."
Associated public events included a panel discussion, " Angels: Living Past Hope," featuring experts from health care, social work and theater, and a reading of Angels In America, Part Two: Perestroika in early May.
