BWT presents a Special Event Breakthrough Workshop of
Angels in America: "Millennium Approaches" (Part One) & "Perestroika" (Part Two)
Written by Tony Kushner
Directed by Ira Bauer-Spector
***FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY***
Set in late 1985 and early 1986, as the first wave of the AIDS epidemic in America is escalating and Ronald Reagan has been elected to a second term in the White House, "Millennium Approaches" (Part One) and "Perestroika" (Part Two) bring together a young gay man with AIDS and his frightened, unfaithful lover; a closeted Mormon lawyer and his valium-addicted wife; the infamous New York lawyer Roy Cohn; an African American male nurse; a Mormon housewife from Utah; and a steel-winged, prophecy-bearing angel; as well as the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, an ancient rabbi, the world's oldest living Bolshevik, and a Reagan administration functionary, among many others — all played by a company of eleven actors. The lives of these disparate characters intersect, intertwine, collide, and are blown apart during a time of heartbreak, reaction, and transformational breakthroughs. Ranging from earth to heaven, from the political to the intimate, from the visionary to the supernatural.
Featuring a stellar cast of Breakthrough Artists, this two-part, six-hour reading is being presented as a fundraiser for BWT's Season 5 World Premiere project The Club, with donations ("Pay What You Can") being accepted at the door. While tickets are FREE, reservations are required and can be secured on this website.
There are two opportunities to see BWT's ANGELS IN AMERICA at the San Diego Performing Arts Center in Mission Gorge:
1) Thursday, Feb. 9th at 7pm (Part One) and Friday, Feb. 10th at 7pm (Part Two)
or
2) Saturday, Feb. 11th at 10am (Part One) and 3pm (Part Two)
The cast includes Shaun Tuazon-Martin (Prior Walter), Justin Tuazon-Martin (Louis Ironson), Shane Ruddick Allen (Roy Cohn), Margot Nelson (Harper Pitt), Nathan Bauer-Spector (Joe Pitt), Heidi Maretz (Hannah Pitt), Catherine Caldwell (The Angel), Marc Caro-Willcox (Belize), Terri Bratcher (Ethel Rosenberg/Ensemble), Richard Morrison (Mr. Lies/Ensemble) and Erika Appel (Emily/Ensemble). The reading will be Directed by BWT Founding Artistic Director Ira Bauer-Spector and Assistant Directed by Meagan Pitcher.
ABOUT ANGELS IN AMERICA
Millennium Approaches - Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Winner of the 1993 Tony Award for Best Play
Perestroika - Winner of the 1994 Tony Award for Best Play
“A vast miraculous play … provocative, witty and deeply upsetting … a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama … PERESTROIKA is not only a stunning resolution of the rending human drama of MILLENIUM APPROACHES, but also a true millennial work of art, uplifting, hugely comic and pantheistically religious in a very American style.” —New York Times
“A victory for theater, for the transforming power of the imagination to turn devastation into beauty. ANGELS IN AMERICA is a monumental achievement, the work of a defiantly theatrical imagination.” —Variety
“Playful and profound, extravagantly theatrical and deeply spiritual, witty and compassionate, furious and incredibly smart.” —Newsday
ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH WORKSHOP THEATRE
Celebrating Season 5 in 2017, Breakthrough Workshop Theatre is a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that has produced 30 projects since beginning work in January 2013. Focused on arts education and providing unique opportunities for theatre artists of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels in a collaborative environment, BWT has provided over 400 creative opportunities for artists through staged readings/theatre intensives called "Breakthrough Workshops," musical concerts at acclaimed venues, the "BWT in Development" Series focused on new works and a few fully-produced productions with a minimalist aesthetic. BWT has participated in the San Diego International Fringe Festival for four consecutive years with the award-winning Dear Harvey (2013) as well as the World Premieres of Miss M Saves the Universe! (2014), The Things We Never Say (2015) and You're In My Blind Spot! (2016). The Things We Never Say received the 2015 San Diego Fringe Award for Outstanding Score for its composer Thomas Hodges, it was named by Pat Launer as one of the "Best of the Fest" and the Original Cast Recording of the BWT production can be found on iTunes and Spotify. BWT has been asked to perform twice as a "Surround Event" at the historic San Diego REPertory Theatre, co-produced a production with fellow nonprofit Sing Your Song in 2016 and has received grants from San Diego LGBT Pride for work in 2014, 2015 and 2017. The plays performed by BWT are selected for their historic and social significance, placing focus on Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, as well as pieces about the LGBT community, the Holocaust and the effects of bullying. BWT annually presents Patricia Loughrey's Dear Harvey about the legacy of Harvey Milk, has had workshops in three consecutive seasons that featured an all-female cast/creative team and highlights of past projects include workshops of The Diary of Anne Frank, Proof, Steel Magnolias, The Twilight of the Golds, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds and The Bette Midler Project, as well as concerts at the award-winning Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest.
For more information about BWT, visit www.breakthroughworkshop.org.
