Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Angels in America' in Utah

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Hosted by An Other Theater Company in Provo
Bryce Lloyd Fueston (left) and Noah C. S. Kershisnik (right) in rehearsal for An Other Theater Company's production of "Angels in America."

In the 1980s in the United States, AIDS was tearing through the population, leaving many for dead and issuing a resounding impact on the lives of those touched by it, either directly or through association.

Originally seen as a “disease of homosexuals,” unfortunately not much was initially done to publicize or curb the carnage, creating the foundation of one of many great American tragedies.

Tapping in to the drama and emotion of the time is Tony Kushner’s Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Angels in America,” coming to An Other Theater Company in Provo from Friday through March 4.

“The play really does address the AIDS epidemic and the Reagan Era and really does show a tragedy that happened, and that tragedy was a lot of homosexuals died,” said Kimberly Abunuwara, who plays Mormon mother Hannah Pitt in the Provo production. “We Americans did not mobilize to help them as we should have because they were gay. They didn’t get the attention that they needed I think it’s been demonstrated, in hindsight, that the slowness to respond to the AIDS epidemic was real and was because of our prejudices.”

The script deals with a variety of hard-hitting topics and prejudices, starting with the AIDS epidemic and delving into religion, race, politics, homosexuality and the relationship between Mormonism and homosexuality.

“Angels in America” is set in 1985’s New York City and centers in on the relationship between Prior Walter and his partner, a gay Jew named Louis Ironson, who struggles to cope with the news that Prior has AIDS. Paralleling the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prior begins to receive heavenly revelation and visitations, which provide a backdrop to the story.

At the same time, the character of Joe Pitt, a closeted gay Mormon, comes out to his wife, Harper, as well as his mother, Hannah, portrayed by Abunuwara.

According to Abunuwara, as the characters’ lives entwine, complications abound and many profound social concerns are brought to light, including the tenuous relationship between the Mormon church and the gay community.

“I am a Mormon and it’s been difficult for me to see the gap that’s opened up between Mormons and the LGBT community, so my interest in ‘Angels in America’ is most particularly because there are two key Mormon characters,” Abunuwara said. “Joe is an adult closeted Mormon gay, and ... of course of in the play Joe comes out to his mother (Hannah Pitt) over the phone, and Hannah doesn’t do a good job of responding. Hannah represents the challenge currently facing the Mormon community, and that’s how to respond to their family and friends.”

Though it’s more of a sideline in a story focused on Prior, Abunuwara said she is passionate about that narrative, and as such has created The Hannah Project 2018 in response.

“In association with the play, I want to make people aware of a project where I’m collecting coming-out stories, but I want to hear from the people coming out as well as the people being come out to because we might need to hear from them the most,” Abunuwara said. “In the Mormon church, we are struggling with how to have a relationship with gay friends and family; how to accept them, how to love them and how to support them.”

Through thehannahproject2018.com, Abunuwara is collecting anonymous stories that she will compile for publication.

“I would hope that these stories would almost serve as a kind of a guide,” Abunuwara said. “I want the stories to be read by Mormons to learn about how they might respond. Hannah, the character I’m playing, is just entirely unprepared when her son calls to say he’s gay. … I want to talk a little more and share experiences a little more to hopefully avoid those kinds of disastrous situations.”

The Hannah Project 2018 is a bridge of sorts between Abunuwara’s participation in “Angels in America” and the people she hopes will receive the underlying messages of the show, whether or not they go to see it.

“This play is really important for this community,” Abunuwara said. “On one hand, the subject matter provides a wonderful opportunity to talk about this, but on the other hand it’s not a play that many mainstream Mormons would be comfortable with, so I plan on the Hannah project living beyond this play. … (Change) is going to take time. We all need to pace ourselves. This is a marathon, it’s not a sprint and we’re in this for the long haul. Little by little we’ll get there.”

Despite the intense, adult content involved in production, Abunuwara gave credit to the hard-hitting messages it provides, as well as to An Other Theater Company for producing it.

“I would like to say how incredibly talented the cast and crew are of this production,” she said. “It’s very impressive that we have the professional talent that we do in town, and I’m very happy to work with this cast and crew. … The Other Theater Company wants to produce straight drama which is not always comfortable and just a matter of entertainment. It’s also a matter of thought and examination, and I support them. I just want to say it’s an impressive group of people and I support them in what they’re doing.”

According to Taylor Jack Nelson, An Other Theater Company’s artistic director, from its beginning on Kickstarter to the first production in September 2017, the group has not only delved into serious and hard-hitting content, but also held interest in works that are outside the area’s traditional family-friendly productions.

“There’s a lot of really great theater happening in Utah County, but it tends to be all in the same genre,” Nelson said. “If people wanted to see something like the shows we’re doing they had to drive up to Salt Lake. With so many people driving up to Salt Lake for theater we thought, ‘Why don’t we just open a theater here that provides that?’ ”

And that is how An Other Theater Company was born. With initial funding from Kickstarter and an eight-show season that promised at least three shows written by women and at least two with queer themes or LGBT main characters, it’s safe to say the company’s productions aren’t the norm for the area, but definitely the kind of theater that has reached high acclaim elsewhere in the country.

“I would say this is one of the most important plays of the last 30 or even 50 years,” Nelson said of “Angels in America.” “It won the Pulitzer, and it’s a show that takes gay characters and puts them at the forefront of their own stories. It’s exciting that they’re not just accessories to the plot. It looks at those very unique perspectives, and uses them to look at national issues. That’s something that’s very exciting to us, especially in this community.”

According to Nelson, the show explores a lot in regard to religion, with many themes specifically relating to Mormonism – a topic that’s prevalent in Utah County, where a majority of the population is Mormon. “In spite of it being a very important show in theater, it’s not one that’s really done here,” Nelson said, noting that the last production of the show in Utah was roughly 10 years ago in Salt Lake City. “For a show that explores those themes, homosexuality, Mormonism and the intersections of the two, it seems like it would be an important fit for this community, especially now. It seems like something that’s being talked about a lot more, and is at the forefront of our cultural conversation.”

That kind of theme and conversation, Nelson said, is precisely why An Other Theater Company exists.

“We’re doing things that are a little more edgy, going against traditional conservative community theater that is typically praised by this fairly conservative community,” he said. “I think what we’ve found, though, is that there is an audience for it here. … Because we’ve always set ourselves out as doing that, people either don’t see our plays or know what they’re getting into coming in.”

Nelson said though their shows can sometimes be considered a little harsh for this community, they are actually profoundly popular elsewhere in the country.

“A lot of the shows that we’re doing are actually ones that are well performed in other parts of the country, but not done here,” he said. “Something we’re really kind of trying to do is add something to the theater community here that is a little more in line with the national theater scene, just because there are great shows that just aren’t coming here.”

“Angels in America,” subtitled a “Gay Fantasia on National Themes” is among the great shows widely recognized beyond Utah, with two lengthy parts the company will present. Part 1, titled “Millennium Approaches” will run with full set and production value through March 3 with Part 2, “Perestroika,” presented as a staged reading March 11 and 12. Both parts run over three hours long, but provide ample story that Nelson said is worth telling.

“It is a very human story, and it explores how people from a very wide variety of walks of life kind of relate to one another,” he said. “It takes place at the height of the AIDS epidemic, something that’s not really talked about any more and realistically wasn’t really talked about at the time. … What this show does, and how it’s applicable today is that it says, ‘Hey, this happened. Maybe we should look at why that happened and why that was allowed to happen and what that says about who we were and what that says about who we are today just as a society.”

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