Angels in America (39 page)

Angels in America, Parts One and Two
, opened at the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain in London, in November 1993. It was directed by Declan Donnellan. Sets and costumes were designed by Nick Ormerod, lights by Mick Hughes, and music by Paddy Cunneen. The cast was as follows:

Angels
was presented by the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, in September 1994. It was directed by Mark Wing-Davey. Sets were designed by Kate Edmunds, costumes by Catherine Zuber, and lights by Christopher Akerlind. The cast was as follows:

The American national touring company of
Angels
began performances at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago, in September 1994. It was directed by Michael Mayer. Sets were designed by David Gallo, costumes by Michael Krass, lights by Brian MacDevitt, and music by Michael Philip Ward. The cast was as follows:

I continued my work on
Angels
during the rehearsals and previews of the productions mentioned above, sometimes making major changes, sometimes tweaking only a line or two. Most of the work was focused on the structure of
Perestroika
. After the national tour was launched, I decided to stop, at least for a time.

An English touring production of
Angels
, mounted by Headlong, premiered in Glasgow on April 20, 2007, arriving at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London, on June 20, 2007. It was directed by Daniel Kramer. The sets were designed by Soutra Gilmour, costumes by Mark Bouman, lights by Charles Balfour, and sound by Carolyn Downing. The cast was as follows:

A new Dutch production of
Angels
, by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, with a translation by Carel Alphenaar, opened on March 5, 2008, at the Stadsschouwburg. It was directed by Ivo van Hove. The Toneelgroep's dramaturg for the production was Peter van Kraaij. The sets were designed by Jan Versweyveld, video by Tal Yarden, costumes by Wojciech Dziedzic, and music by Wim Selles. The cast was as follows:

Perestroika
was presented at the Paul Walker (of blessed memory!) Theatre by the second-year students of the Graduate Acting Program of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, on October 30, 2009. It was directed by Janet Zarish. The sets were designed by James Bolenbaugh, costumes by Maria Hooper, and lighting by Jimmy Lawlor. The cast was as follows:

And finally (or at least for the time being):

Angels in America
opened in New York City, on October 27, 2010, as the first production of the 2010–2011 Signature Theatre Company season. It was directed by Michael Greif. The sets were designed by Mark Wendland, costumes by Clint Ramos, additional costumes by Jeff Mahshie, lights by Ben Stanton, music by Michael Friedman and Chris Miller, and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. The cast was as follows:

A Few Notes from the Playwright About Staging

In General

Millennium Approaches
and
Perestroika
are two parts of a single play, but at the same time they're two rather different plays, each with its own structure and character.
Millennium
has three acts and
Perestroika
has five. Three acts make a tauter, cleaner play, the gestures and rhythms of which will feel more inexorable, more destination-driven; a five-act play is likely to provide a more expansive, exploratory and ultimately open-ended and unresolved experience. Perhaps it can be said that
Millennium
is a play about security and certainty being blown apart, while
Perestroika
is about danger and possibility following the explosion. The events in
Perestroika
proceed from the wreckage made by the Angel's traumatic entry at the end of
Millennium
. A membrane has broken; there is disarray and debris. All of which is to suggest that, especially when the
two parts of
Angels
are produced in repertory, the differences should be visible and palpable onstage.

The plays benefit from a pared-down style of presentation, with scenery kept to an evocative and informative minimum. There are a lot of scenes and a lot of locations; an informative minimum means providing what's needed to enable the audience to know, as quickly as possible, where a scene is set. Actors need to help by playing the reality of these locations: How loud can you get, really, in a fancy restaurant?

I recommend rapid scene shifts (no blackouts!), employing the cast as well as stagehands in shifting the scene. This must be an actor-driven event.

Intermissions

Audiences are said to have grown increasingly impatient and unwilling to sit through long evenings in the theater. The people of whom this is true will likely seek out shorter plays than
Angels in America
. I believe that, once engaged, audiences rediscover the rewards of patience and effort and the pleasures of an epic journey. An epic play
should
be a little fatiguing; a rich, heady, hard-earned fatigue is among a long journey's pleasures and rewards.

That said, the audience has to be given chances along the way to gather its strength and attention.
Millennium Approaches
is a long play, and
Perestroika
is longer. Each play is meant to have two intermissions, after Act One and Act Two of
Millennium
, and after Act Three and Act Four of
Perestroika
. These segments are shaped to function as coherent single events as well as successions of scenes.

The temptation to take only one intermission in each of the two parts should, in my opinion, be resisted. Although
one intermission shortens the running time, the demands it puts on the audience's attention and the pressures it puts on the scenes immediately before the single intermission or near the end of the play are unnecessary, detrimental and counterproductive—the running time may be shorter, but it will feel much longer.

Magic

The moments of magic, such as the appearance and disappearance of Mr. Lies, the ghosts, Prior's fiery Book hallucination and the Angel's arrival, ought to be fully imagined and realized, as wonderful
theatrical
illusions—which means it's OK if the wires show, and maybe it's good that they do, but the magic should at the same time be thoroughly thrilling, fantastical, amazing.