Bay City News
Oakland Theater Project is revisiting Tony Kushner's multi-award-winning, two-part AIDS-era-set "Angels in America" in a new location in Marin.
Calling the show "a grand, American classic," Michael Socrates Moran, the boundary-testing troupe's co-artistic director, is at the helm of the new production. It opens with Part 1, "Millennium Approaches" in previews on Sept. 27, followed by Part 2, "Perestroika" on Oct. 11 and being presented by Marin Shakespeare Company at its theater in San Rafael.
Moran says doing "Angels in America" may be stretch for Oakland Theater Project, now in its 12th year, but not unprecedented: "We've done big plays in the past, like 'Hamlet' and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' We've never shied away from epic works. It's less about being ready and more about a play being vibrant and relevant. And then, taking the risk."
Without alteration and with a versatile, diverse cast, the troupe is doing a "pared down" version of the story of gay couples wrestling with illness, mortality, each other, family, society, and their better-and-worse inner angels.
"Considering 'Angels,' I knew our space was limited for meeting the artistic demands. I went through the terrifying process to figure out how constraints could lead to new, beneficial ways of doing the play, instead of being suffocated by obstacles," says Moran, who selects Oakland Theater Project shows largely by instinct, confronting realities and limitations by reimaging them as opportunities.
Originally a site-specific troupe, the company built a 99-seat theater inside a Flax Art & Design store in Oakland in 2019. Today, grateful for the collaboration and landing in Marin Shakes' new 165-seat theater, Moran says, "I usually see 'Angels' done with a lot of set changes and a realism style. We don't have the money or ability to do that, so we have one, stationary set. Also, everyone expects an angel to fly and there's not a ton of fly space. We came up with unusual ways to make that work. No, I won't tell that now. Come see the show, and you'll find out."
Building and storing the set and costumes forced other challenges, including finding creative ways to accommodate many constructed elements. A design that breaks the set into mobile, smaller units allowing for portability and quick assembly was essential.
The production of two three-hour plays--especially on Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 when Parts 1 and 2 run consecutively, requires endurance: "It's a lot of output on every level. This show thrusts everyone into a pit to wrestle with their own angel. It pushes everyone to the max, but hopefully, to fulfillment. The actors have to love it deeply, because I ask them to go deep every day," adds Moran.
"Angels in America"--which premiered at San Francisco's Eureka Theatre in 1991 and 1992, hit Broadway in 1993, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play, and later adapted into a TV miniseries in 2003-- is unique in that it touches on political, social and personal life, according to Moran.
The magnitude of the issues it addresses and its apocalyptic atmosphere parallel what he believes many people are currently experiencing: "There's a sense of a lot of things we are pushing through, and the play interrogates them. It feels contemporary, specifically American, impossible but also hopeful. I feel bigger when I'm in it. It makes me feel more alive to the moment we're in now."
Suggesting that misuse of power is what animates the much of action in "Angels," Moran points to characters that are both sadistic and masochistic: "They claim to be victims while perpetrating harm. They seek redemption, which requires a certain ruthlessness, even immorality. Ultimately, repressing your inner force, your own aliveness and power, is the greatest betrayal. Remaining fully alive is our greatest hope."
Working on "Angels" has given Moran new insights about the play, and life: "It's the overt crisis at its front and center. Sometimes, in an issue play, we can lose the personal dynamics of love, loss, death. This play draws a straight line from political acts to the personal impact of being ignored, shunned, isolated, discarded, hated. It looks life right in the eye and tells us to push forward, regardless. That's what gives it the grandness and hope during what I believe is a cynical time."
Oakland Theater Project's "Angels in America, Parts 1 & 2" runs Sept. 27-Oct. 27 at Marin Shakespeare Co., 514 Fourth St., San Rafael. Part 1 runs Sept. 27-Oct. 26; Part 2 runs Oct. 11-27; Parts 1 and 2 will be presented consecutively on Oct. 19 and Oct. 26. Tickets are $10-$60 at https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/angels.
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