Displaying items by tag: Larry Kramer

Though Larry Kramer did not live to see the end of the 2020 COVID-19 lock downs, no doubt his contributions to the 1980s AIDS outbreak inspired a new generation to demand accountability for what is widely regarded as a botched response.

Larry Kramer was known as a firebrand who often verged on offensive. His 1978 debut novel titled “Faggots” was a blistering satire of pre-AIDS gay life in New York City. His depictions of fellow gays as shallow and promiscuous earned him a negative reputation in the late 1970s scene.

By the time the AIDS crisis overwhelmed New York in the early 80s, Kramer was seen by many as cantankerous, but nonetheless his brash public appearances and relentless demand for social justice made him an iconic figure in the fight against AIDS.

Redtwist Theatre opens their newly renovated space with a revival of Larry Kramer’s 1985 play ‘The Normal Heart’. Ted Hoerl directs a sizeable ensemble cast to recreate Kramer’s semi-autobiographical story of the inception of one of the country’s first AIDS activist groups—Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

‘The Normal Heart’ begins with a gut-wrenching diagnosis that quickly drops the audience into the moment when AIDS first hit New York in the summer of 1981. Kramer establishes Ned Weeks (Peter Ferneding) as the main character spurned into action by the sight of his friends rapidly dying of an unknown disease.

Ned is inspired to become a leader for AIDS research by Dr. Brookner (Tammy Rozofsky) who sees patient after patient with the same mysterious, but lethal pathology. With his heart in the right place, Ned bickers incessantly with his fellow activists showing how messy progress can be.

Through it all, Ned falls in love for the first time, mirroring Kramer’s own search for love in an era where gay love was still in the closet. The central romance between Ned and Felix (Zachary Linnert) provides Ned a reason to keep fighting for acknowledgement from federal and local health agencies in order to fund research and a cure.

Performances are somewhat inconsistent in Redtwist’s revival, but the play serves to remind its audience of the truly outrageous mishandling of the AIDS crisis by Reagan-era politicians unwilling to help, or even dare say the word AIDS. Kramer’s anger is both palpable and justifiable in nearly every line, even if at times delivered a little melodramatically.

‘The Normal Heart’ is a searing indictment of the dangers of apathy. And that seems even more prescient as we head into an election in which brazenly absurd policies like Project 2025 are on the ballot.  Kramer was deeply disturbed by the Western word’s inaction during the Holocaust and saw many parallels during the AIDS crisis. While not exactly a pleasant subject matter, the world needs people like Larry Kramer to sound the alarm bells.  His play may not be as artful as Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’ but its message is even more dire. In the near three hour run time, in a small theater, Kramer’s gripping script is impossible to shy away from, which is exactly what he intended.

Through September 29 at Redtwist Theatre. 1044 W Bryn Mawr Ave. www.RedwistTheatre.org

When George W Bush won his second term in November 2004 Larry Kramer delivered the watershed speech The Tragedy of Today’s Gays, a speech that was “the most difficult I’ve ever had to give”. Director David Zak worked with Kramer adapting the speech for theatrical performance, continuing after Kramer’s death in 2020. THE KRAMER PROJECT is the result; its world premiere is the first event for Open Space Arts, a new non-profit dedicated to works of social relevance. The six performances of THE KRAMER PROJECT, July 22 through 31, benefit Center on Halsted.

Larry Kramer would be first to agree that most of his performances involve yelling at people, particularly other gays. David Zak modifies the speech for performance by having the cast – Tom Chiola, Keith Butler, Elijah Newman, Hailey Hance, Roberto del Rio, Alexandria Moorman and Ryan Quade – deliver the speech to one another, against a video background designed by Magdiel Carmona and including original music by Elijah Newman.

THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback for me personally.  I completed my psychiatric residency at Rush Medical Center from 1984 – 1988, as the Plague swept through Chicago. During those four years I watched helplessly as sparkling young men shriveled and died in unspeakably horrible ways. When my training was complete, my National Health Corps Scholarship required me to pay back with four years of practice. I went all the way up to the Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, begging to complete my payback service at Howard Brown Health Center. In April 1988 I received a letter from Dr. Koop stating that “AIDS is not a national health care priority”. So, yeah … THE KRAMER PROJECT was a flashback, both bitter and sweet.

By the time Kramer delivered the speech in 2004 the Highly-Active Anti-Retroviral Treatments (HAART) had been available for nearly ten years, and AIDS had morphed from an immediate death sentence (90% dead within six months of diagnosis) into a chronic, treatable disease. The Tragedy of Today’s Gays was addressed to the latest generation of young gay men, for whom AIDS is “just a bad STD””, condemning their disregard for social activism in favor of orgasms.

The Tragedy of Today’s Gays had much to say about the Bush administration’s endorsement of “moral values”. Kramer quotes extensively from Bill Moyers’ research on the alliance of conservatives that were transforming America into a “classist, racist, homophobic, imperial army of pirates”.  AIDS was a gift to this cabal: "Their wildest dreams started to come true. The faggots were disappearing, and they were doing it to themselves".  

Kramer’s confrontational style, criticizing the promiscuous gay relationships common in the 1970’s, earned him severe ostracism from the gay community. Undeterred, in The Tragedy of Today’s Gays Kramer directs his censure toward the younger generation of 2004 gays. 

Today, 20 years later, it is shocking – and deeply alarming – to see how accurate his indictments continue to be in 2022.  

Zak’s technique in THE KRAMER PROJECT, having the cast address one another, works brilliantly, transforming Kramer’s recriminations from a tirade into a discussion. The cast ranges in age from early 20’s to late 50’s, lending still greater depth to the ‘discussion’, and enhancing the validity of Kramer’s charges. 

At the post-performance discussion David Zak described his dismay as one segment after another of The Tragedy of Today’s Gays anticipated today’s anti-trans legislation, supreme court decisions, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’, adding: “…and now here comes monkeypox, right on schedule.”

Each actor spoke of their personal journeys with THE KRAMER PROJECT. A younger cast member admitted that, though they already knew much of the history, it had been difficult to ferret out the information. There are no straightforward [sic] sources for queer history, and many will abandon efforts to piece together the hodgepodge of implausible accounts with questionable provenance.

Yes, in 2022 Kramer’s words prove clairvoyant. We have just (barely) unseated a President who makes George W Bush look like James Baldwin, we have a brand-new viral onslaught on men who have sex with men, and many of today’s queers seem mired in political apathy.  Without an overwhelming upsurge in activism, Kramer’s ominous predictions will continue to foreshadow our dwindling gay rights.

I highly recommend THE KRAMER PROJECT, but expect to leave the theatre feeling deeply unsettled.