Allentown Public Theatre actors read The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer at Hava Java (526 N. 19th St., Allentown) for Theatre Cafe on June 21 at 7pm. The semi-autobiographical play is set in 1980’s New York City, where an unidentified disease targets gay men.
In Kramer's play, Ned Weeks is a Jewish-American writer and confrontational gay activist, not unlike the playwright. Weeks organizes a coalition to try to stop an epidemic without any known origins or known means of transmission. In his battle, he alerts public officials and the community, but is met with passivity and homophobia. The press is silent. Weeks partners with his physician, Dr. Emma Brookner, who seeks government funding to further research. Meanwhile, gay men die – Weeks's lover among them – leaving survivors with grief, regret, and fear of being the next victim.
The cast of The Normal Heart includes: Rick Bachl, Troy Brokenshire, Teague Fernandez, Paul Janoski, Remy Kayal, Pat Kelly, Keith Moser, Jeanie Olah, Mike Piz, and Susan Rego.
The Normal Heart – called "an angry, unremitting and gripping piece of political theatre" by The New York Daily News – was first produced in 1985 in New York. The play toured America during the midst of the AIDS crisis, resonating with audiences for its relevancy.
An activist and a co-founder of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), the playwright was arrested dozens of times while engaging in civil disobedience, trying to awaken the world to the crisis. Between his activism and his writing, Kramer “helped change medicine in this country . . . for the better,” says immunologist Anthony Fauci, known for his HIV/AIDS research. “In American medicine there are two eras. Before Larry and after Larry.” www.allentownpublictheatre.com
Theatre Cafe is every third Tuesday at 7pm through August 2016 at Hava Java Cafe, 526 N. 19th St., Allentown. 610-432-3045. Suggested donation $5. www.allentownpublictheatre.com.