“Angels in America” displays great student talent
November 14, 2012
Prior Walter was an AIDS victim in the 1980s. He stood in front of his nurse and removed his clothes to reveal dark, scabbed-over lesions that covered his body. His only refuge, his dreams, have been invaded by a crazy Harper Pitt who was in a constant state of denial. Pitt was an unhappily married pill-popper who had hallucinations of a super-fly travel agent taking her to Antarctica to give birth to a baby that didn’t exist. Her husband Joe Pitt was a devout Mormon who was a closet homosexual. Joe’s boss Roy Cohn, a prominent New York Lawyer, also hid his homosexuality, handling his diminishing immune system while maintaining his “screw-you” mentality.
No, this isn’t a gossip column about celebrities or a premise for a reality television show. These are just a few of the characters in UNCW theatre department’s “Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches,” which opened this past weekend.
“Angels in America” is Tony Kushner’s 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning AIDS awareness piece that speaks on many issues facing Americans. Although set in the mid-1980s, the play offers insight to issues dealt with in modern-day America: AIDS, race, sexuality, love and broken families. Every character in “Angels in America” gives a voice to those who didn’t have one in a time period fraught with homophobia.
One of the more moving scenes in the play was when Prior Walter, played by Zak Norton, woke up sick in the middle of the night asphyxiated and bleeding from his rectum. As he struggled to cling to life, his boyfriend Louis Ironson, played by Phil Antonio, held him sobbing in a way that said he could not help him while simultaneously refusing to accept his boyfriend’s fate.
The most notable of the characters, however, was the high-strung lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Cullen Moss. Roy Cohn was famously played by Al Pacino in the HBO movie of the play, but Moss helps you forget this quickly. Moss not only nailed the New York accent and mannerisms, he made the character his own and showed true tenacity with every expletive he shouted. Having a laundry list of acting experience, Moss’s dedication to his character shone throughout.
Kelly Mis and Eddie Ledford did a great portrayal of the couple with a crumbling relationship, Harper and Joseph. Harper appeared to be legitimately delusional as Kelly scanned the audience with her wild blue eyes that make you take that last step off the diving board, only to land on the concrete beside the pool. Along with Joseph’s bright yellow tie and Reganite beliefs, they were able to create a couple that deserved to be in therapy.
“Angels in America” is a play that had to be done right in order to correctly convey the social commentary demanded by the script. Director Ed Wagenseller took an interesting direction not usually seen in theater. All of the curtains were removed and the entire backstage area was revealed. Wagenseller called this his “exposed theatrically” approach, which he believes enhances Kushner’s script and characters by having “multiple locations, no blackouts, and an elegant flow from scene to scene.”
Good college actors and a superb set made UNCW’s attempt at this groundbreaking show a success. The cast was chosen wisely and the set design was very creative. By taking a different direction and removing all cover from the theater, Wagenseller gave a new take on this groundbreaking production.
“Angels in America Part One: Millenium Approaches” played in the UNCW Cultural Arts Building Nov. 8-11 and will continue Nov. 15-18 at 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Sundays.
