As the cornerstone of its annual theatre festival, Intiman Theatre presents Angels in America, Tony Kushner's epic masterpiece about finding hope in the face of crisis. One of the great plays of the 20th century, this two-play blockbuster explores gay culture, race, inequality, and the future of America through the lens of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
Performed by an ensemble cast of Pacific Northwest artists, Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches runs tonight, Aug. 12 - Sept. 21; and Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika runs Sept. 3 - 21. Tickets are on sale now at Intiman.org.
Directed by Intiman Producing Artistic Director Andrew Russell (Stu for Silverton), these repertory productions provide a rare chance to see both parts of Kushner's groundbreaking work in close succession (even in the same day).
"Angels in America is a universal tale, and one of the greatest theatrical works of our time," said Russell. "Tony Kushner writes about catastrophe within marginalized communities in the 1980s, and it doesn't take much work to connect these stories to our own lives today. More than ever, we Americans - in the face of crumbling structures and systems - must wrestle with how best to navigate the complexities of hope."
The cast of Angels in America features several noteworthy Seattle artists, including:
· Marya Sea Kaminski (Hedda Gabler, Other Desert Cities, Clybourne Park) as The Angel;
· Charles Leggett (Stu for Silverton, The Price, August: Osage County) as Roy Cohn, the successful New York lawyer and power broker hiding a life-changing secret;
· Timothy McCuen Piggee (Broadway: Catch Me If You Can; Regional: The Memory of Water, Chicago) as Belize, a former drag queen working as a nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital, the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in New York; and
· Anne Allgood (Broadway: Carousel, The Sound of Music, Imaginary Friends; Regional: Mary Stuart, The Pirates of Penzance, Cymbeline) as Hannah Pitt, a Mormon mother who moves from Utah to New York to support her struggling son and his pill-popping wife.
The cast also features Ty Boice as Joe Pitt, Quinn Franzen as Louis Ironson, Alex Highsmith as Harper Pitt, and Adam Standley as Prior Walter.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Play, Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches follows eight New Yorkers who form unlikely bonds as a mysterious disease begins ravaging their city.
The second half of Kushner's extraordinary epic, Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika, steers the characters from the opportunistic 1980s to a new sense of community in the 1990s, as the AIDS plague worsens, relationships fall apart, and unexpected friendships take form.
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Anne Allgood* Hannah Pitt
Ty Boice Joe Pitt
Quinn Franzen Louis Ironson
Alex Highsmith Harper Pitt
Marya Sea Kaminski* The Angel
Charles Leggett* Roy Cohn
Timothy McCuen Piggee* Belize
Adam Standley Prior Walter
Creative Team
Andrew Russell Director
Jennifer Zeyl Scenic Designer
Mark Mitchell Costume Designer
Robert J. Aguilar Lighting Designer
Matt Starritt Sound Designer
Paul Rubin Flying Sequence Choreographer
Judith Shahn Text/Vocal Coach
Geoffrey Alm Fight Director
Stina Lotti* Stage Manager
Jessica C. Bomball* Assistant Stage Manager
*denotes member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
The Presenting Sponsor for Angels in America is Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a global leader in the search for a preventive HIV vaccine. Additional support is generously provided by King5, Seattle Met, Boeing, the National Endowment for the Arts, Wyman Youth Trust, Edelman, BECU, 4Culture, Hafer Family Foundation, Shubert Foundation, SeattlePI.com, CityArts, and a dedicated community of individual supporters.
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