Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
Stray Dog Theatre: Angels in America
Part One: Millennium Approaches: April 12–14, April 26–28 & May 10–12
Part Two: Perestroika: April 19–21, May 3–5 & May 17–19 7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat
Single tickets: $20 adults, $18 students and seniors
Both shows: $37 adults, $33 students and seniors
2336 Tennessee, 314-865-1995, straydogtheatre.com
Twenty years ago, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America premiered at The Eureka Theatre in San Francisco. Set at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic and the tail end of the Cold War, Kushner’s play tapped into the zeitgeist of the mid-’80s, when it felt like the world might end, but neon colors were everywhere. Nevertheless, it feels timeless. “Most people know it as one of the first big HIV/AIDS plays,” says Stray Dog artistic director Gary Bell. “But there are a huge number of other themes in the play: religion, Judaism, Mormonism, relationships, racism, politics, human relationships. It’s quite vast.” It’s also quite long, with each part running about 3 hours. But Bell says it never feels long: Scenes change quickly, like TV edits, which was unprecedented for the time it was written, and it can be tricky to stage. Angels is ambitious in other ways, too, with actors playing multiple roles, often of the opposite gender; and then there’s that angel of the title…which makes its entrance by crashing through a ceiling. Though Stray Dog did Part One during its first season in 2003, Bell says the enormity of the play, not to mention its fast pace and special effects, scares a lot of companies away. Doing both scared him away during Stray Dog’s first season, though Bell feels confident about tackling it now. The actors have been in rehearsals since February. And that angel’s entrance? “One of my designers came up with a brilliant way to do it,” he says. But explaining the trick would just ruin the magic: “Like a lot of things in the theater, things that look inspiring and grand, when you look behind the scenes, are done quite simply.”
