Historic LGBT Play THE NORMAL HEART Opens Tonight at The Mendocino Theatre Company

Opening tonight, July 30th, the Mendocino Theatre Company is proud to present Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart. Known for its recent Broadway revival and an award-winning 2014 HBO adaptation, The Normal Heart is a gripping and beloved piece of American history.

Taking place between 1981 and 1984, The Normal Heart tells the incredible true story of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Ned Weeks, the playwright's autobiographical protagonist, is labeled radical, extreme, prudish, and self hating by both friends and enemies alike. But when a mysterious virus, then coined 'gay cancer', begins rapidly taking the lives of young men, this opinionated, unyielding, and impassioned gay activist finds himself racing the clock for funding, research, and recognition.

Both political and personal, Kramer's play premiered in New York in 1985. As the first generation to never know a world without AIDS reaches maturity, The Normal Heart has now taken its cultural place as an important historical work in the cannon of gay literature.

Featuring some of the Mendocino Coast's most accomplished performers, The Normal Heart is performed by Dan Kozloff, Scott Pappas, Sandra Hawthorne, Dwight Branscombe, Nicholas Barrett, Patrick Gomes, Mark Friedrich, Raven Deerwater, and Kellen Quinn-Lanigan.

The Normal Heart plays at the Mendocino Theatre Company at 45200 Little Lake St. in Mendocino July 30th through September 6th, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. on selected Sundays. For tickets or more information, contact the Mendocino Theatre Company Box Office at 707-937-4477, or go to mendocinotheatre.org.

Pictured: Top row - Patrick Gomes, Scott Pappas, Dan Kozloff, Dwight Branscombe, Nicholas Barrett. Bottom row - Raven Deerwater, Sandra Hawthorne, Mark Friedrich. Photo by Larry Wagner.