One of the country’s most important plays is being presented at the Raven Theater this month in the way it’s supposed to be done: three acts, two intermissions. A long night at the theater, but an intimate experience for cast and audience alike. As director Steven David Martin insists, “I always like to say, a really well-written play is as long as it should be.”
Angels in America is one of the most honored plays of modern times, winner of the Tony for best stage show on Broadway, and the Pulitzer for best drama of 1993 among other accolades. Written by Tony Kushner in the depths of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, it touches on a complex story-line of characters who confront in their own ways the impact of a deadly disease of unknown origin that seems to be affecting the gay community almost exclusively at first.
The production at the Raven lasts until May 24, though it is only Part 1 (The Millennium). Part 2 (Perestroika) will not be staged this year, but Steven David Martin, the director of the Raven Players and of this production, would not rule it out for a later season. When we spoke with Martin earlier this week, we asked him where he had seen the play or directed the play before.
Steven David Martin: I was out in New York in an early iteration, after it had opened on Broadway. It wasn’t the original cast, but it was pretty close. And I saw it a few years ago at Berkeley Rep. The two times I was fortunate enough to see it, I got to see both parts on the same day, so If you think a three-hour play is long, it’s quite an experience. But you know, there are certain stories that need that breadth and that depth.
I always like to say, a really well-written play is as long as it should be. And if it feels like it’s really long, then you know we’re doing something wrong. But over the first three performances I’ve had several people say, “Yes, it’s a long play, but it sure doesn’t feel that way.” Time, as we know, is relative.
Healdsburg Tribune: All that said, what is Angels in America about?
SDM: There’s a lot of things going on in this play. The driving plot line is about a gentleman who is diagnosed with AIDS—it’s set in 1985. So this is at a point in time where the [Reagan] administration was not only marginalizing the gay community and ignoring this burgeoning epidemic, but pretty much trivializing it as well, literally saying things like, “Well, it’s just a gay disease.” And so that’s one of the tragedies of the play.
That’s the engine that runs the play, but it’s about a lot more. It’s about connection. It’s about community, it’s about the government not serving its people. It’s about faith. It’s about so much more than just the central AIDS storyline.
Is there any one central character? How many actors are in it?
There are nine people in the cast, and several of them play multiple roles. There’s about three plot lines that intertwine and overlap, and some of the characters from each of those plot lines end up interacting with characters from the other plot lines.
I cast it almost a year ago, last June. Most of these actors I’ve worked with before, and some of them quite a few times. And honestly, one of the reasons I’ve been wanting to direct the show for a number of years, and one of the reasons I’ve sort of held off, is that I thought I really need, top to bottom or across the board, the best actors. Not only talented actors, but actors who are going to be able to commit to it, because it’s a demanding play. It’s a physically demanding play. It’s mentally exhausting, it’s emotionally exhausting.
I was asking them to be very vulnerable and, just going places that maybe they haven’t gone as an actor, some uncomfortable places. So it was not just a matter of finding nine talented actors. It was a matter of finding nine talented actors who I knew would work well together, and I knew would get everything they had to the show.
How did the audience respond to your first performances last weekend?
The audience response has been incredibly enthusiastic, and they’ve been wonderful. Even though there are lots of heavy moments and a serious subject matter, a great playwright will give you some comedy, too. And there is a surprising amount of humor in the play. But people have responded very, very positively to the play.
Every Sunday matinee we do a post-show discussion with the audience, so they get a chance to make comments and ask questions of the actors. We saw there were a lot of people who were quite moved and quite touched by the play. So the opening weekend could not have gone better, as far as I’m concerned.
‘Angels in America, Part 1’ plays Thursday at 7:30pm; pay what you choose. Other performances continue Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday matinee at 2pm, through May 24. Tickets $25, $10 student, Raven Performing Arts Theater, 115 North St. raventheater.org
The first time we saw Angels in America was at ACT in the City (1990s?) and it was heart-stoppingly powerful. It is such a luminous, singular and important work! We were fortunate to see the play last night in the intimate Raven venue, and wow, the Raven Players have staged a beautiful production with incredibly moving and passionate perfomances. The staging was so creative and the sound was AWEsome (in the best way). The actors gave their all and more than met the tremendous power of this play. Brava to the actors, director, stage manager, all the creators and crafts folk who worked so hard on this. This is a play for these times; right NOW. I really hope that they will be able to stage Perestroika.