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Edgy masterpiece resonates with timely, timeless themes

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson

Love is a potent and essential salve, particularly during times of disunity. This fall, Dickinson’s Department of Theatre & Dance presents an edgy and affecting ode to the power of love that’s as relevant today as when it first hit the stage.

Tony Kushner’s groundbreaking play Angels in America debuted on Broadway in 1993—the later days of the AIDS epidemic in the United States—and garnered a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize. It explores connections across political, social, religious and sexual identity lines during the peak of the U.S. AIDS health crisis.

Dickinson’s Department of Theatre & Dance will present the first half of Kushner’s masterpiece, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Nov. 1-3.

“This play presents an eye to the future of what this nation can really be if we can all come to the table.” —Carmen Rafalli '25

Professor of Theatre Karen Lordi-Kirkham, who directs the Dickinson production, says Millennium Approaches is about "advocacy for coming together across difference to fight despair and provide hope for the future." She adds that it’s a timely message today, in the wake of a different health crisis and in the midst of political division.

The cast and crew include students in Lordi-Kirkham’s dramaturgy class, who conducted research to inform the show. They’ll display key findings in the theatre lobby.

Max Carfrey ’26, an environmental studies major with a double minor in theatre and film, researched Mormonism and the role of angels in religious traditions as he prepared to portray Joe Pitt, a gay man of faith who struggles with his identity. He says that while the experience as a whole taught him a good deal about how to collaborate and self-advocate on creative projects, his research drove home the importance of cultivating tolerance and understanding.

Ali Lustig ‘27, a prospective theatre major, marks her fourth Dickinson production this fall and her first as stage manager—a challenge, as this is a show that includes ghosts, angels and other special-effect-enhanced dramatic elements. While learning about the magic of staging, lighting and sound design, Lustig also reflected on the ways that our struggles can unite us. Carmen Rafalli ’25 (theatre & dance, educational studies) plays the protagonist, Prior Walter, as part of his capstone senior project. Researching the gay community in America during the 1980s informed his acting and provided a source of pride and inspiration as he helped bring a reverent voice to a historically underheard population.

“To me, this is a very patriotic play,” Rafalli says, because it presents “an eye to the future of what this nation can really be if we can all come to the table.”

Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches will be presented in Mathers Theatre Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. start at $5. This show is open to the public. (Content advisory: This play contains mature language, racial and ableist slurs, references to explicit sexual situations and depictions of violence, illness and death.)

TAKE THE NEXT STEPS 

Published October 30, 2024