After more than two years without a production, the stage at Valencia College will premiere “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches” this month.
“Angels in America” is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by playwright Tony Kushner that looks at the AIDS crisis in the U.S. during the 1980s.
The play is broken into two parts titled “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika.”
“Kushner describes it as a ‘gay fantasia on national themes,’” says Jeremy Seghers, director of this production. “What that means is being a fantasia it’s not all completely real. It isn’t this gritty slice of life drama, although there is a lot of life and drama in the play, but it is more poetic and theatrical, and it has more fantastical elements to it.”
The fantastical elements of “Angels in America” is what set it apart from other works on the AIDS epidemic. While addressing themes of HIV/AIDS, health care, mental illness and how LGBTQ people were treated socially and politically, much of it is done using metaphor and symbolism as well as having supernatural characters such as angels and ghosts.
“Kushner had a lot of ideas he wanted to work through with this one,” Seghers says.
While the play juggles multiple themes and storylines, the main story initially focuses on Prior Walter and Louis Ironson, a gay couple living in New York City in 1985. Prior, who has AIDS at a time when it was considered a death sentence, starts to experience visions as his boyfriend Louis struggles to deal with Prior’s declining health. After Louis abandons him, Prior is comforted by his best friend Belize, a former drag queen turned nurse.
Prior, Louis and Belize, openly gay characters in “Angels in America,” are all played by queer actors, something that Seghers says he was striving for.
“It was important for me to cast queer actors in these roles if I could because this is our story,” he says. “And who better to take on these characters than members of the community.”
Edwin Perez, who identifies as queer, plays Prior.
“Growing up in a Catholic house, femininity wasn’t allowed for me. So growing up, it was a lot of hiding my femininity and trying to be masculine presenting,” Perez says. “I think if I didn’t have restrictions then I would have been very different then I am today. Prior Walter is definitely a character that is very proud of his queerness, he wears his pride on his sleeve. He is someone I aspired to be when I grew up and I think playing this role will let me shine through.”
Chris Moux takes on the role of Louis, a character who Moux saw a lot of himself in.
“Louis, being a Jewish man and still being in the closet to his family, he struggles with being gay in America. He is struggling with the family expectations of him to be masculine, and I think that is something I personally struggle with and still do now,” he says. “When I saw it and read it, it really spoke to me personally. I thought I would be able to put myself in it.”
Having actors who are not only able to play Prior and Louis but also have the chemistry to convey a relationship on stage was pivotal for Seghers.
“I was worried about getting a Prior and a Louis who were comfortable enough to play these characters without playing into stereotypes or to use that femininity that they have as a weapon,” Seghers says. “There’s a lot of code switching that goes on in the play. But when they both walked in and read for their characters and then read together, they have so much chemistry on stage together. There was a moment where Prior hugged Louis and you can see that they are comfortable with each other, and they aren’t afraid to touch.”
Having the actors be intimate with each other and touch is something Seghers says had to be approached delicately.
“We use touch infrequently in the show so it is very poignant when it is used,” he says. “That is for several reasons, first because in 1985 it was still not widely known how it was spread and contracted. So people in that time were very mindful of who and where they touched. Then of course with the current pandemic we don’t want to have everyone constantly touching everyone.”
The character of Belize is played by nonbinary actor Marquise Hillman. Hillman uses they/them pronouns.
“This character is so much like me that it wasn’t difficult to get to that place,” they say. “I grew up the oldest, so very caring and had to be the strong person. That was me growing up. He is also very feminine and proud of who he is. I do identify as nonbinary, so being able to embrace your femininity as well as be masculine and strong for other people is something I could relate to and something that spoke to me.”
The play also follows two other primary stories, a Mormon couple — Joe and Harper Pitt — who become intwined with Louis and Prior in very different ways, and Roy Cohn, a real-life closeted Republican gay lawyer who has AIDS and Belize eventually becomes a nurse for.
“[John DiDonna, Valenica’s Program Chair/Artistic Director] and I have been working on bringing this show to Valencia for two years now, since before the pandemic” Seghers says. “What initially inspired me to do it was Donald Trump’s presidency and Roy Cohn.”
Cohn is an infamous character in U.S. history who was chief counsel to Sen. Joe McCarthy during the 1950s McCarthy Hearings. He became a lawyer and mentor to Trump.
“We would not have had [Trump] as president without Roy Cohn,” Seghers says. “Many people aren’t even aware of Roy Cohn, let alone his relationship to Trump back in the Reagan era. Now fast forward to today and we have another pandemic and Trump played it down just like [Ronald] Reagan with the AIDS crisis. AIDS was around for four years before Reagan even said the word, and Roy Cohn’s name comes up in all of it. That was the through line for me.”
As the cast and crew work on “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches,” Seghers is keeping an eye on next year when he can hopefully present the conclusion to “Angels in America.”
“If we are able to, I want to bring ‘Part Two: Perestroika’ to the stage next year with the same cast,” he says. “It definitely leaves off on a cliffhanger and I think it is important we tell the complete story.”
“Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches” will be at the Valencia College Performing Arts Center, East Campus on select days Feb. 18-26. General admission is $12 with students, Valencia faculty/staff/alumni, military and senior tickets only $10. Tickets can be purchased at Events.ValenciaCollege.edu.
