'Angels' reveals a darker side to the carefree '80s

Most of us here at Yale don't remember the '80s that well. Memories of the decade come in occasional flashes and glimmers, spurred by an old song or sitcom. While the '80s generally symbolize a time of irresponsibility and security in our childhood, for many it was a time of unease and fear.

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH Stephanie Escajeda, TC '98, and Mike Pastor, TC '98, cope with AIDS in the era of the Safety Dance.

Directed by James Luse, a lecturer in the theater studies department, the current production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America (Part One: Millenium Approaches) is well acted and professionally executed. Featuring a small cast, all of whom give phenomenal performances, the play is funny, moving, and engaging.

Angels in America tells the story of the advent of the AIDS epidemic in the American gay community in the '80s. It chronicles the lives of very different, only loosely connected homosexual men, all of whom are affected by the HIV virus. We are first introduced to Louis (Andrew Grusetskie, TD '98) and his lover Prior (John Patrick Higgins, TC '98), the latter of whom has just declared that he is HIV positive. As the two men seek to deal with the illness, we meet Joe (Michael Pastor, TC '98), a closeted, conservative Mormon with a schizophrenic, valium-addicted wife (played with aplomb by Nicole Ana Caccavo, TC '98). Finally we get Roy Cohn (Stephanie Escajeda, TC '98), an aging, morally bankrupt lawyer who refuses to admit his homosexuality because of his position of power. While every performer is talented, Caccavo, Escajeda and Higgins stand out. Strong acting makes this production succeed, and every performance complements the powerful script.

In addition to the news clips and pop music piped in throughout the performance, there is also an original music score (composed by Jana Zielonka, TC '99) which adds to the overall creative and imaginative feel of the production.

The lighting, designed by Luca Borghese, ES '00, contributes to the production and helps the cast pull off some of the more fantastical, surreal scenes. The play's final scene, in which an angel (Caccavo) descends from the ceiling, probably could not have been executed in many of Yale's undergraduate theater spaces, but in Artspace, it is accomplished with only minor difficulty.

The primary problem with the production lies in the play's facility and staging. The basement studio of Artspace (next to Koffee? on Audubon Street), while offering more space and technical advantages than, say, Nick Chapel, creates staging problems not present in the average Yale venue. Because the action of the play is spread out along a long, narrow line of space sandwiched between two large sections of seats, the play occasionally takes on a disconnected feeling. At one point in the performance, parallel scenes between Louis and Prior and Joe and Harper are acted out consecutively. While the acting and script leave little to be desired, one finds that the awkward staging of the play makes it more difficult to connect and contrast the plot lines of the two scenes.

Because the stage is barely raised from the ground, watching from anywhere other than the first two rows demands a concerted effort to connect the disembodied voices of the actors to the characters they portray. While something of a mentally and physically draining process (especially when one considers the play's running time, which is upwards of three hours), the phenomenal acting forces one to pay attention to the nuances of the entire preformance in spite of the concentration that it takes. Ideally, viewers would be able to take in all of the actors' performances, and not have to settle for whatever little glimpses and sound bites manage to make it to their seats.

But these are, in the long run, minor complaints. The sets themselves work well, and Artspace's extensive collection of lighting and sound equipment is put to good use by the company. While it's unfortunate that the cast has to fight for the audience's attention, it is equally amazing that the cast is talented enough to pull off this truly ambitious theatrical feat. Go early, get a good seat, and prepare yourself for an exceptionally well-acted undergraduate production of one of contemporary America's most important plays.

Back to A&E...