As the United States’ diplomacy grinds to a halt, historical relationships become the guiding force for the future. Likewise, in the search for progress, Angels in America II: Perestroika declares and wonders, “The great question before us is: are we doomed? … will the past release us? … can we change?” The play is Tony Kushner’s sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-and-Tony Award-winning Angels in America: The Millennium Approaches. Under the direction of Gibson Cima (CAS ‘04), Perestroika examines the American identity and how history becomes an anchor that weighs down our hearts and actions.
A soviet movement for “restructuring” in the late 1980s, “perestroika” serves as the metaphor for the reconfiguring of the American characters turbulent lives. Each character in Perestroika must find a way to adjust their hold on the past in order to improve and realize their earthly angelic status. Amidst the Cold War, well-acted characters tackle disease, sexuality, religion, and politics, not to mention a scantily clad angel.
Ripe with shock value and technical surprises, the play makes bold parallels, particularly between homosexuality and the Mormon mentality. The struggles of these “hardy pioneers,” homosexuals defying societal norms and Mormons having set out West to propagate a new religion are different only in details. This paradoxical comparison develops as the characters interactions cross into dream sequences, the most poignant and funny being the diorama dream scene. Harper, a Mormon wife whose crazy and childlike fascination is brilliantly and hilariously embodied by Sorell Richard (SFS ‘04), “lives” in his room. Her husband Joe, an emotionally charged Clayton Lord (CAS ‘03), has recently realized his homosexuality and abandoned her. In the diorama, an ideal Mormon family is seated rigidly and emotionlessly, with their faces obscured by blank masks. Only the face of the father, also played by Lord, is visible, and seeing the image of her husband torments Harper. Whether apart or together, Harper and Joe are brought to life with a genuine depth, sincerity and sense of urgency.
Dream sequences like the diorama scene are found throughout the play, creating an intensely emotional atmosphere wrought with complications. As the audience works to figure out who’s who, these scenes obscure the line between imagination and reality. Prior, sympathetically played by Nate Kleinman (SFS ‘04), is a 30-something gay man battling AIDS who has been left by his lover, Louis, a seductive Seth Miller (SFS ‘03). Already in anguish over his poor health and broken heart, Prior receives nightmarish visits from a ragged angel. Given a commanding presence by Jen Rogers (CAS ‘06), entering mysteriously and with bravado, declaring herself a symbol of both heaven and America. She tells Prior that he is a prophet who, with the help of the other characters, through direct interaction or dream-worlds crossing over, is able to meet this task.
Perestroika examines several other relationships that eventually overlap as the past and present collide. Belize (James Salandro, CAS ‘03) friend to Prior and nurse to the perfectly obnoxious and offensive Roy Cohen, is played charismatically by Jamaal Young (SFS ‘03). Young’s poise and facial expressions lend vibrancy to Belize, but his reaction to Roy is ineffectively ambiguous. Salandro lends a great energy to Roy, but Caitlin Lowans’ (SFS ‘03) performance as Hannah, Joe’s very Mormon mother, does not succeed in truly bringing the character to life. While Hannah is left dry and inaccessible, Lowans’ few appearances as the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg are more spirited. Ironically, in singing a lullaby to a dying Roy, Lowans gives Ethel, in a matter of minutes, a vibrant humanity that her portrayal of Hannah had lacked all along.
The set, a series of three rooms in front of drapes of burlap-like material that evoke a skyline, is interesting if simple. The hospital room, middle bed, and office/bedroom are stark but effective. Designed by Rebecca Ende (CAS ‘03), the set is visually appealing but even in this small setting not every seat has a good view. The lighting, just as the set, provides a plain but often off-cued setting for the complexity of the script. In contrast to this simplicity, the pyrotechnics are showy, surprising, and unpredictable. The acting on the whole is very strong, aside from a few poor “crying” scenes.
The play is lengthy, making the audience realize how long it really does take for change to occur. Through its painstaking development of complex relationships, Perestroika points out that the process of growth requires intense, protracted work. Today’s impatient America could benefit from the understanding of humanity’s grace and unity that this play champions.
