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The University of Michigan-Dearborn Players’ Club
Angels in America: May 11-20, 2001
Angels in America
Nominated for six 2001 Dearborn Press & Guide Editors Awards:
Bethany Cara Bray & Brandon Hayes, producers, Outstanding Comedy or Drama
Brandon Hayes, Outstanding Direction of a Comedy or Drama
Darren Pierson, Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role
Nathaniel Wright, Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role
Troy Rucker, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role
Maureen McEachern, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role


Bethany Cara Bray & Brandon Hayes on behalf of
The University of Michigan-Dearborn Players' Club
and in association with Lyceum
present

ANGELS IN AMERICA
A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES

PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES

PART TWO: PERESTROIKA

by

Tony Kushner



May 11 - 20, 2001

 

Sharon Emeigh    Jody Florkowski    Brandon Hayes

Maureen McEachern    Dorothy McLeer    Darren Pierson

Troy Rucker    Nathaniel Wright

 

production manager
Bethany Bray

costumes
Lauren Russette

makeup
Michelle Megret

propmaster
Andy Cartwright

directed by
Brandon Hayes

 

Produced through special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
The script to this play may be purchased from BPPI at http://www.BroadwayPlayPubl.com.

ANGELS IN AMERICA

CAST
in order of appearance

Roy M. Cohn - Jody Florkowski

Joseph Porter Pitt - Brandon Hayes

Harper Amaty Pitt - Maureen McEachern

Louis Ironson - Darren Pierson

Prior Walter - Nathaniel Wright

Belize - Troy Rucker

Hannah Porter Pitt - Dorothy McLeer

The Angel - Sharon Emeigh


Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz - Dorothy McLeer

Mr. Lies - Troy Rucker

Henry - Dorothy McLeer

Emily - Sharon Emeigh

The Man in the Park - Nathaniel Wright

Martin Heller - Maureen McEachern

Sister Ella Chapter - Sharon Emeigh

Prior 1 - Brandon Hayes

Prior 2 - Jody Florkowski

The Eskimo - Brandon Hayes

The Woman in the South Bronx - Sharon Emeigh

Ethel Rosenberg - Dorothy McLeer

Aleksii Antedilluvianovich Prelapsarianov - Dorothy McLeer


in the Mormon Visitor's Center:

The Mormon Father - Brandon Hayes

The Mormon Mother - Sharon Emeigh

The Voice of Caleb - Troy Rucker

The Voice of Orrin - Sharon Emeigh


in Heaven:

The Angel Europa - Brandon Hayes

The Angel Africanii - Maureen McEachern

The Angel Oceania - Troy Rucker

The Angel Asiatica - Dorothy McLeer

The Angel Australia - Darren Pierson

The Angel Antarctica - Jody Florkowski


ANGELS IN AMERICA

PRODUCERS
Bethany Bray    Brandon Hayes

DIRECTOR
Brandon Hayes

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
The Ensemble

ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR
Jennifer Metti

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Bethany Bray

LEAD COSTUMER
Lauren Russette

ASSISTANTS TO THE LEAD COSTUMER
Maureen McEachern    Tasha Cronenwett

MAKEUP
Michelle Megret

SCENIC DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
Fred Florkowski    Jody Florkowski

SOUND
Bethany Bray    Scott Montgomery

SPECIAL EFFECTS & PROJECTION
Scott Montgomery    Brandon Hayes

PROPMASTER
Andy Cartwright

DRAMATURG
Randy Woodland

HEBREW DIALOGUE ADVISOR
Sid Bolkosky

DIALOGUE COACH
Tricia King

HOUSE MANAGERS
Tami Younis    Matthew Ripper    Brandy Pouliot

USHERS
Wendy Blanton    Mickie Finn
Jon Finnegan    Tasha Cronenwett

ANGELS IN AMERICA

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Lyceum
The UM-Dearborn Women’s Studies Program
The UM-Dearborn Student Activities Office

THANK YOU
Wayne State University’s Department of Theatre
The UM-Dearborn Campus Writing Center
The UM-Dearborn Honors Program
The UM-Dearborn Writing Program
The UM-Dearborn Office of Campus Safety
The UM-Dearborn Audio-Visual Department
Lynch’s
Camron Amin
 Denise Bozeman
Mary Kay Carter
Lori Chapman
Jon Finnegan
Fred Florkowski
Cindy Gontko
Elaine Hayes-Shaw
Beverly Johnson
Ethan McAdam
James Poisson
Alex Robinson
Tija Spitsberg
Kristeen Willis-Crosser
Diana York
Filario
Philomel

and many, many others...

ANGELS IN AMERICA
A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES

PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES


LIVE PRODUCTION PHOTOS
by Randy Woodland

 
Dorothy McLeer as Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz

~


Darren Pierson as Louis, Nathaniel Wright as Prior

~


Nathaniel Wright as Prior, Maureen McEachern as Harper

~


Brandon Hayes as Joe, Maureen McEachern as Harper

~


Darren Pierson as Louis, Nathaniel Wright as the man in the park

~


Nathaniel Wright as Prior, Troy Rucker as Belize
~


Brandon Hayes as Joe, Darren Pierson as Louis
~


Darren Pierson as Louis, Maureen McEachern as Harper,
Brandon Hayes as Joe, Nathaniel Wright as Prior

~


Brandon Hayes as Prior 1, Nathaniel Wright as Prior, Jody Florkowski as Prior 2

~


Troy Rucker as Belize, Darren Pierson as Louis

~


Sharon Emeigh as the woman in the South Bronx

~


Dorothy McLeer as Ethel Rosenberg

~


Nathaniel Wright as Prior

ANGELS IN AMERICA
A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES

PART TWO: PERESTROIKA


LIVE PRODUCTION PHOTOS
by Randy Woodland & Tricia King

 
Dorothy McLeer as Aleksii Antedilluvianovich Prelapsarianov

~


Troy Rucker as Mr. Lies

~


Maureen McEachern as Harper

~


Jody Florkowski as Roy Cohn, Troy Rucker as Belize

~


Sharon Emeigh as the Angel, Nathaniel Wright as Prior

~


Dorothy McLeer as Hannah, Maureen McEachern as Harper

~


Brandon Hayes as Joe, Darren Pierson as Louis

~


Nathaniel Wright as Prior, Maureen McEachern as Harper,
Brandon Hayes as the Mormon Father, Sharon Emeigh as the Mormon Mother

~


Sharon Emeigh as the Mormon Mother, Maureen McEachern as Harper,
Jody Florkowski as Roy Cohn, Troy Rucker as Belize, Nathaniel Wright as Prior

~


Jody Florkowski as Roy Cohn, Brandon Hayes as Joe

~


Jody Florkowski as Roy Cohn, Darren Pierson as Louis,
Dorothy McLeer as Ethel Rosenberg, Troy Rucker as Belize

~


The Angels: Brandon Hayes, Sharon Emeigh, Jody Florkowski, Dorothy McLeer,
Darren Pierson, Troy Rucker, Maureen McEachern

~


Dorothy McLeer as Hannah, Troy Rucker as Belize, Darren Pierson as Louis,
Nathaniel Wright as Prior


DIRECTOR’S NOTE:

Angels in America is a profoundly political play.  And theater at its finest – from Lysistrata to Shakespeare’s History Plays to the contemporary plays of August Wilson – seizes the gauntlet of political discourse.  Gay theater in particular has a politicized history – most strikingly post AIDS.  Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart literally screamed for a sane reaction to AIDS in its courageous 1985 production at New York’s Public Theater.  Less than a decade later, Angels in America would be crowned with seven Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.  Novelist, Michael Cunningham, himself a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Hours, questioned what it meant that a play, which featured gay men fucking in Central Park, had won the Pulitzer and was then enjoying a successful Broadway run.  Success can neuter a play – and much of the good regarding public discourse that came out of Angels in America’s success in the early Clinton Era was that it vaulted its ultra-liberal and probingly intelligent playwright, Tony Kushner, into the national media.  But by the time Angels in America arrived in New York, New York Times theater critic, Frank Rich, commented that the play had received so much hype that “you may feel you have already seen it” (5/5/93).

Early in the production process, I was challenged to defend the play by my dear friend (and Players’ Club bedrock) Jay Savage.  He Socratically asserted that Angels in America was a period piece – a relic of the politics of the mid-1980’s.  He wanted me to defend Angels’ relevance ten years after its premiere in San Francisco.  Of course, its relevance became more readily apparent in December 2000 when the Supreme Court anointed George W. Bush as president – a sort of cosmic joke in my mind, but I digress.  But even beyond the terrors of the Bush White House, Angels has a resonance.  Seven of the eight actors in our ensemble are between the ages of nineteen and twenty-three, and consequently figures like Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Ed Koch are more dramaturgical facts than flesh and blood politicians.  But the immediate, direct meaning that so many of my theatrical colleagues (gay and straight) take from Angels assures me of the play’s endurance.  In an early century culture where barebacking has become commonplace and Dick Cheney has a Washington Office, Angels in America is timely and urgent.

Harold Bloom has written that in a generation’s time Angels will be seen as a Jewish theology play.  While I must acquiesce that Bloom is a fine scholar, he has missed much of the youthful American exuberance in Angels (but what can we expect from a man joyless enough to dismiss Much Ado About Nothing as drivel?).  Bloom, like many critics and scholars, has entirely missed the point of Angels in America.  In traditional academic fashion, he feels that he must categorize (and thereby reduce).  But the very essence of Angels is that it cannot be reduced.

I have also had to defend the play’s length and grandiosity.  I always find charges that Angels is pretentious to be amusing.  Of course it’s pretentious – Kushner has admitted as much.  But so is Moby Dick, so is Song of Myself, so is Howl.  Each work, written by a gay writer, attempts to contain a vast vision of America.  Angels falls into this tradition – and it is in very good company.

But what does all this have to do with the politics of the theater and the foolhardy endeavor of a fledgling theater group at the commuter campus of a large state university to attempt not one, but both parts of Angels in America in the group’s first year?  Love, passion, and politics.  There are members of this extraordinary cast and crew who simply are passionate about theater – and the possibility of courageous, relevant free theater in Metropolitan Detroit.  Passion has motivated many of us – passion for the play and the progressive literary tradition it is a part of – passion for the characters, the story, the humor and the relevance.  And politics – the courage to present a play like Angels on a campus whose student newspaper refuses to acknowledge the existence of the campus chapter of the National Organization for Women – a campus where a young gay man can go to the Counseling Services Office seeking information about HIV/AIDS in the spring of 2000 and find nothing but a small pamphlet copy written in 1987.  But also a campus whose administration and faculty include some of the most extraordinary women and men I have ever met: Richard Axsom, Suzanne Bergeron, Sid Bolkosky, Corrine Calice, Elaine Clark, Amy Hawkins, Maureen Linker, Daniel Little, Deborah Smith Pollard, Tija Spitsberg, Claude Summers, Randy Woodland; I cannot possibly mention everyone.  Members of the Angels cast have lost loved ones to AIDS, have been discriminated against, have been disowned, have been called “fag” and “dyke” on campus, have been kicked out of homes for having the “sinful” Angels script.  Only three cast members’ parents came to see the play.

Angels in America is our play; it is our continuing story; it is this nation’s continuing struggle to become sane.

B. Hayes

May 2001


REVIEWS:

From The Dearborn Press & Guide, Richard Marsh, May 17, 2001:

"From an artistic standpoint, it makes sense to try to present both parts of the story in one weekend, since Part II ("Perestroika") is a continuation of Part I ("Millennium Approaches"). From a production perspective, it is a massive undertaking, especially when a group's resources are limited. The outstanding cast met that challenge with stellar performances last weekend...The most notable among the cast members were Darren Pierson as Louis Ironson and Nathaniel Wright as Prior Walter. The two showed great versatility in playing their characters. Likewise, Troy Rucker as Belize and Mr. Lies also demonstrated a great variety of emotions and characterizations. The remainder of the cast - Jody Florkowski as Roy M. Cohn, Brandon Hayes as Joseph Pitt, Maureen McEachern as Harper Pitt and utility supporting actresses Dorothy McLeer and Sharon Emeigh - turned in wonderful performances as well."


WORD OF MOUTH:

Comments of Dr. Maureen Linker, Associate Professor of Philosophy:

"I saw the play on Friday with some friends and afterwards, we could not stop talking about how impressed we were with the students and their performances.  This play was a huge undertaking, enormously ambitious, and done on what appears to have been a shoestring budget and yet, what we see is a serious, funny, wonderfully captivating night of theatre.

"If you have ever said our students should be more engaged, less apathetic, more committed, socially conscious, intellectually daring, creative, and morally and culturally aware, then come support the UM-D Players' Club in their successful realization of these goals."



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