Fallen ‘Angels’

Kirk Baird

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 12:08 p.m.

What: "Angels in America."

When: 8 p.m. performances Friday, Saturday, and Feb. 4 and 5; 2 p.m. matinees Sunday and Feb. 6.

Where: Judy Bayley Theater at UNLV.

Cost: $12 general admission; $10 for senior citizens, students under 18, disabled patrons and military personnel.

Information: Call 895-2787.

It's powerfully dramatic.

It's bitterly funny.

It's tragically touching.

And it's a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner.

So what's all the negative fuss about "Angels in America" anyway?

That's certainly what Robert Brewer wants to know.

A professor at UNLV for 11 years and director of the school's graduate musical theater program, Brewer is directing the university's production of "Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Part One: Millennium Approaches," the first play in a two-part series that makes a forthright examination of AIDS and homosexuality during the Reagan years. The show opens a two-weekend run beginning Friday at the Judy Bayley Theatre.

"People coming to this play for controversy are coming to the wrong play," Brewer said. "You may not agree with the (play's) point of view, but there's nothing controversial going on."

Perhaps not controversial. But to say that a play that tackles such polarizing issues as racism, homophobia, politics and religion, and how they mesh with modern mores is not going to upset -- if not entirely offend -- some people is nearly impossible, especially given the play's verdict that the nation as a whole engaged in a sort of genocide against homosexuals.

Nowhere is that more prevalent in author Tony Kushner's play than in the real-life character of Roy Cohn. Although altered from reality somewhat to better fit the needs of a strong antagonist, Cohn is written as a pathetically callous lawyer who refuses to acknowledge his homosexuality even as he is dying from AIDS.

To Cohn, being gay is to be a part of an unacceptably weak coalition; one that goes against the status quo of the Right -- particularly the Reagan administration -- to which he is fiercely loyal.

It's in that denial that Kushner finds a tool to symbolically represent what he feels is a nation intolerant of homosexuals: Just as Cohn chooses to ignore the reality and gravity of his situation, in Kushner's eyes so too is President Reagan guilty of the same sort of blindness. In Reagan's case, it's choosing to ignore the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in the early '80s, seeing it as a "gay disease" and not something with which the average American is concerned.

It's that lack of concern that is at the heart of the "Angels" blanket indictment: Reagan, in a sense, was merely following the orders from his constituents; acting indifferently at the behest of a supposedly tolerant nation. It's a notion Kushner decries in a speech by Louis, one of the male leads:

" ... what AIDS shows us is the limits of tolerance, that it's not enough to be tolerated, because when the (expletive) hits the fan you find out how much tolerance is worth. Nothing. And underneath all that tolerance is intense, passionate hatred."

Not surprisingly, Brewer agrees with Kushner's diatribe, saying he finds the lack of acceptance the nation showed when AIDS came to the forefront to be frightening.

"It wasn't just Ronald Reagan who was quiet with AIDS, it was the country," he said. "The government did very little because (it) thought that's what the public wanted. It was a political decision."

It's certainly not a popular stance to take, in effect pointing an accusatory finger at the nation. However, Brewer said that as an artist he cannot be concerned with how a play's message will effect people, but rather: "I just present" the piece.

He also hopes that those who look at "Angels" as simply a "gay play" will put aside their biases and see it as something more: "a big play with big ideas."

Centered around an eight cast members (some of whom do double and triple duty), the play focuses on five gay men: Cohn (Steve Rapella) and Prior Walter (Clayton Chauvin), both of whom have AIDS; Joe Pitt (Jonathan Shultz), who is married to Harper Pitt (Janelle Lannan) and in denial over his homosexuality; Louis Ironson (Stephen Reyes), who is Prior's lover; and Belize (Nate Bynum), who is a friend of both Prior and Louis.

While the play's main focus is squarely political, Kushner embodies his characters with such flesh-and-blood realism -- warts and all -- that "Angels" elevates itself above the level of a searing conviction of national attitudes toward homosexuals and into more nongender-specific fare as it delves into such universalities as love, relationships and equality.

"I think that the play offers a gay perspective (on) national themes, (but) it's as much about gay America as it is about black America, as it is about Jewish America, as it is about white America," Brewer said.

Dismissing "Angels" as simply a "gay play" he added, "is like a gay man saying 'Street Car Named Desire' is a straight play."

For some, though, that's exactly what "Angels" is -- a gay play.

In Charlotte, N.C., for example, a minister tried to stop a local production of "Angels." A few hours before show time, however, a judge intervened, telling officials not to carry out arrests for indecent exposure. (The UNLV production has no nudity.)

And in Kilgore, Texas, a recent staging of "Angels" at the local college resulted in buses of protesters descending upon the small town. The demonstrators yelled to those in attendance that they were going to hell and carried signs denouncing the school president. Shortly thereafter, county commissioners decided to quit funding the arts, voting to rescind their $50,000 allotment to the Texas Shakespeare Festival. The commissioners said the play had nothing to do with their votes; the college president maintained that the two were "directly connected."

Brewer said that all these incidents do is simply reinforce Kushner's argument that our nation is prejudiced against differences.

"It's unfortunate (these things) happened. In a free country you have to be willing to listen to other points of view," he said.

Still, Brewer said that he doesn't expect any problems with this production.

"The play has been very well received around the country," he said, "and I expect it to be very well received here."