Play commemorates people who struggled with homophobia, disease at the beginning of HIV/AIDS crisis
The director of a new community theatre production hopes the play will help commemorate the people who struggled with disease and homophobia at the outset of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
“It’s very easy at times to forget that behind it all are individuals… loving human beings with families,” said Stephen Puddle, founder of the Performers’ Theatre Company.
He’s the director of a new production of The Normal Heart, which opens on Saturday. The play, written by Larry Kramer, is set in early 1980s New York City, at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
“I think a play like this helps bring that [humanity] out and show the reality of those individuals, and it’s also a tribute to those who fought hard and long,” Puddle said.
The World Health Organization estimates that HIV has claimed the lives of about 40 million people since the first known outbreak, in 1981, of what would eventually become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The main character of the play is a writer and activist named Ned Weeks, a gay man who is the founder of an HIV advocacy group. The play was first produced in 1985.
Puddle also sees parallels between the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19, notably a sense of extreme negativity against people trying to implement public health measures.… Continue