But if you have seen it -- either our production or elsewhere --
and you're ready to share, we'd like to hear from you:
What does 'Angels' mean to you?
If you haven't been following the blog, you can go back and read what some of the designers and other production people have said about their experiences with the play. Also, we have what actor Willie Repoley shared with us on the significance of the play not just on a large scale, but personally as well. (A similar post about Angels that Willie wrote after we read Millennium Approaches a couple years ago in the (For)Play Series caught the attention of someone writing an article about the resurgence of Angels productions for its 20th anniversary, and now you can find a quote from Willie in the most recent Newsweek!)
Basically, we'd love to hear from you. Anything you've got... and if you'd rather share in person, we have three community discussions with Western North Carolina AIDS Project coming up regarding the play and AIDS. They are Friday, October 29 after the show; Saturday, October 30 at 2 PM; and Saturday, November 6 after the show. Angie Flynn-McIver will be at this Saturday's discussion if you have any questions for her. And don't forget to tell your friends to come see the show! Send 'em our link to buy tickets online: ncstage.tix.com or they can call our box office at 828.239.0263.
Hello friends!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw this play in the mid-'90s it was so revolutionary. It was about AIDS and homosexuality and sexuality and religion and and power and all these huge ideas. The play was massive. What wasn't it about?
After seeing it @ NC Stage some 15 years later, the play meant something totally different to me(isn't that the cool thing about art?). I can't figure out if it's the intimacy of the space or the passage of time (probably both)but the play wasn't massive anymore. It was... intimate. It was about love and life and death and how people need each other and live together or don't. It was about an grown man needing his mom. The scope of the play is still grand but what struck me this time around was personal. I mean, sure, fuck Reagan, but this time it was about a man not wanting to die alone. What beautifully tragic simplicity.
And that's one of the reasons why this play is so awesome. If I get a chance to see it 15 years from now it'll probably mean something else entirely.
And BTW - I've seen Willie Repoley in a million things and always loved him. But his awesome-a-liciousness in this show was indescribable. Kudos to him and to all the team for putting on an amazing show.
hugs,
jennifer treadway
My husband and I had seen a TV production of Angles and thought it was excellent. We both thought your production was better. Very impressive!
ReplyDeleteLillian Alexander
Fabulous production! We went in knowing only knowing vaguely what it was "about," and came out reeling with the depth and purity of the acting, sound, stage, direction, and the simply excellent portrayals of so many characters. What does the play mean to me now? It is an experience in the complexities of human relationships: love, conditional and unconditional; weakness and strength; self-deception and self-confidence; fear and courage; abandonment and commitment; timidity and boldness. It is a play of its time and place, and yet its themes are current and universal. Thanks to NC Stage for bringing this experience to Asheville.
ReplyDeleteI recently moved to Asheville from the Northeast via a 15 year stint in Florida. I've missed the theater scene NYC offers, and was completely blown over by the first two productions I saw here. A few weeks ago I saw "Oliver" at ACT. The choice of staging a family musical in the mountains did not surprise me and certainly is appropriate. What did surprise me was seeing a musical done that well outside of Broadway. But, "Angels In America"? In Asheville? Yes! Kudos on your courage, insight, foresight, and beautiful production.The acting was top rate and exciting! And as someone else mentioned, the intimacy of your theater greatly enhanced the experience. You've proven there is an audience in this wonderful community for controversial, sophisticated works professionally produced. I'll have some more please.
ReplyDeleteWith great appreciation, Jon Case
I read the play for a class in college and always wanted to see it live since then. You guys did a amazing job with it, I was engaged the whole time. The play does deal with a lot of social issues but I would agree with Jennifer that it is also about the love between the characters and needed someone.
ReplyDeleteI have already written everyone on my email list to go and see this amazing production - but it was the several comments on the "intimacy" of this one that prompts me to write today. At first I feared the "smallness" of the house would diminish the production. How silly. It intensified it almost to the point of pain. To experience (not just see - not in THIS production) this dramatic work of art so close to you and to realize that the work was not only written to be "in your face" but that this production is ACTUALLY "in your face" - was at first startling, then deeply moving, but finally devastating in its impact. The acting and direction is first rate. The sets and lights and costumes are wonderful and supportive. But it was the overall impact of this work, so beautifully realized by Angie McIver, that was what I took away with me and what will stay with me for a very long time. I envy Asheville's having this incredibly brave and wonderful company! I will come back to see everything that they do.
ReplyDeleteThoughts On Seeing "Angels In America" at NC Stage.
ReplyDeleteby Arnold D. Sgan
"Angels in America" deals with the confusing issue of human sexuality. As seen through the eyes of gay men, some openly gay, others who deny their homosexuality, and still others hiding it, the play follows them in their interactions with others both gay and straight. The character who knows who he is and what he is, played brilliantly by Willie Repoley, [is dying] a lonely death of AIDS. Having been abandoned by his supposed "lover," he will die alone. I believe the Angel who descends at the end of the play arrives so that this person will not die alone. The Angel will accompany him into heaven, for surely that is where he will go. Roy Cohn, also brilliantly played by Michael MacCauley, is a despicable character on the stage (and in real life). He hides, and even denies his homosexuality, acting with bravado as the paradigm of "macsulinity" in his egoistic drive to conquer the world through intimidation. He dies a death from AIDS, and he dies alone we presume. We have pity for the young man who dies alone as an honest and good human being, and we have little or no pity for Cohn, who violates every form of human decency in his dealings with his fellow man.
Two other gay men, one who bears the guilt of abandoning his lover at the end, and the other who comes out of the closet after being confronted by his "straight" wife find each other and finally live their lives in the open. The wife, to me, was an enigma. She suspects her husband is a closet homosexual, but she runs away from the truth by popping pills and living a life of illusion. She is obviously influenced by her upbringing as a bible-beating Mormon. She abandons her husband when the truth comes out. I am not sure what I think about her, and I would like to know more about what she represents.
There are two men (the Rabbi and the Senator) who are played by women, seemingly to further assist the theme of the mystery of human sexuality. As an audience member, if I thought I was confused about the concept of human sexuality before I saw "Angels," the play did little to unmuddle this mystery. What it did do, for me, was shine a new light on the issue of human sexuality and the horrors of AIDS and to give even broader dimensions to the issues of human sexuality; love, loneliness, suffering, life and death.
NC Stage Company, as usual, squeezed out every bit of meaning and passion in this deep play. Everyone in the cast was excellent, the direction was perfect, and the technical aspects were great. Once again, NC Stage has produced a difficult, important, play with professional expertise of the highest quality. You made me think!