The Best Development to Realize and Feature All Elements in the Play - Admission/Application Essay Example

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches The play Angels in America: Millennium approaches were written by Tony Kushner in the 20th century to reflect the mounting crisis of HIV/AIDS in the city of New York. Kushner used the real crisis of AIDS that seemed to worry people to develop his plot. After the grandmothers funeral, Prior Walter, the boyfriend of Louis tells him that he has AIDS. On the same day in Washington, Roy Cohn the legendary republican lawyer offers Joe Pitt - a Mormon law clerk, a prestigious job. Joe refuses to take the job offer at the first instant until he discusses it with his wife, Harper. Harper is suffering from the anxiety and hallucinations as well as the addiction of valium. She is not willing to leave to Washington. The fate of these two couples seems to quickly intertwine. At the working place, Joe stumbles in Louis’ presence and cries in the courthouse’s bathroom. It is this behavior that makes Louis to suspect that Joe is gay. Prior and Harper meets in a mutual dream sequence. Based on "threshold of revelation," Prior reveals to Harper that her husband, Joe is secretly a gay. Furiously, Harper confronts Joe but he denies the allegation. However, Joe tells Harper that he has been struggling with that issue in his mind and he is trying extremely hard to overcome the matter. In the course of their augment, Louis says to prior that he is not sure whether he can handle and manage the stress as well as the stress of caring for prior – his boyfriend when he is sick. Coincidentally, Roy Cohn faces another different surprise during his appointment with Henry, his doctor. He also learns that has been detected with HIV/AIDS. According to the insight of Roy, gay men are weak and ineffectual; therefore, he thunders to the doctor that he has no AIDS that is homosexual disease since he was suffering from liver cancer. The behavior of Roy disgusts the doctor, but Henry urges him to take the clout – an experimental AIDS drug to obtain AZT. The illness or Prior Walter, as well as the anxiety of Harper, grow worse. In terror, Louis strays from the bedside of Prior to seeking sex at night in the central park. Fortunately, Belize the ex-drag queen, a dear friend and one of former lovers of Prior taking care of him. Prior discloses to Belize that he heard amazing and mysterious voice. Belize seems to be skeptical but just after he leaves the same voice speaks to Prior. The voice tells him that she is a messenger who will soon come for him. At the work, the friendship of Joe and Louis grow closer as they often talk. Eventually, Joe telephones Hannah his mother at the Salt Lake City and informs her that he is gay. Hannah does not believe it and tells Joe that he has become ridiculous. Nevertheless, Hannah sells her house and all property to come to New York and put things right. At the climax of the play, Joe informs Harper that he is gay who in turn asks him to leave. At the same time, Louis tells Prior that he wants to move out (Shmoop Editorial Team. 2008). Introduction: The part one of Angels in the America came to birth during the start of HIV/AIDS epidemic in the city of New York in 1985. Kushner progresses the plot by developing a number of themes and characters. He uses the main theme of gay to show the audience how the epidemic can be spread. Kushner uses the themes of infidelity, homosexual and conflict to depict the cause of the spread to the disease. The play is based on three plotlines; the world ideas – economy, society, setting and the time upon which the play takes place. The playable actions with a degree of success and the ideas about character motivation and themes get focussed. The nature of conflict among the characters separates them from their background story, actions and given circumstance. Plot: The play starts Rabbi Isador on stage alone preaching the funeral of the grandmother, Sarah Ironson with a wooden coffin. In his monologue, the audience learns that the deceased was Jewish woman. In the next scene, the lay introduces Rot Cohn and Joe Pitt who are New York lawyers. In regard to phone monologues, the audience can learn that Roy Cohn is a rich and powerful person. It is through this power that Roy can influence and dismiss others who are less powerful in the play. Roy tells Ailene that whether she thinks he is the only “Goddam Lawyer” who has ever overlooked a court date in history. In the third scene, the play introduces Harper whom the readers learn that she the wife of Joe when they kiss as the scene ends. As her monologue suggests, Harper is susceptible to imagining things. She imagines that ‘lonely people sit talking nonsense into the air. At this scene, a magical realism tone is established when Mr. Lies appears. Mr. Lies is the only character, according to Harper, she sees and acknowledges. The whole thing is based on dream and hallucination. At the fourth scene, the audience learns the period as well as the political mood of the drama as the Ronald Regan governs as the president. Also, in this scene the audience introduces to Prior Walter a boyfriend to Louis. Prior is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS – an epidemic established to be caused by homosexuality. The condition of Prior is getting worse and a voice tells him it is coming for him soon. The infected characters are traumatized by the fear to die. Finally at the climax of the plot characters separate with one another and their homes. Louis informs Prior about his decision of moving out, Joes mother move to New York and Harper asks Joe to leave. The relationships come to an end. Themes: In the entire play, the focus is on the theme of relationships. The play starts with a number of characters in both opposite sex and homosexual relationships. In respect to the world of the play, leaving a relationship is the nastiest crime one would commit. According to the Harpers reaction to Joes revelation to be a gay, as well as her interaction with Prior, the audience can learn that homosexuality is no allowed in a society in which the play is based. However, the society does not seem to be very aggressive against homosexuality. According to the suggestion of Roy, gay persons are asking for their rights. He says, ‘homosexual persons cannot get a piss-ant ant-discrimination bill passed . Prior is a boyfriend of Louis and later Joe leaves Harper to in relation with Louis –after separating with Walter. The other minor themes such as conflict, infidelity, illness and separation have been used by the author of the play to develop and depict clearly the nature and consequences of the relationships. The characters that abandon the relationship become tormented with guilt. Joe abandons Harper with an emotional desert and forsakes Roy when he needs him by refusing to be "a good son." Also, Louis leaves Walter when he needs Louis the most. After Joe and Louis ends their relationships end up being partners in homosexuality (Kushner, T.1992). Characters: Tony Kushner uses different characters to perform specific roles in the play and progress the plot as well as the themes. Louis one of the main characters plays the role of developing theme of relationship. He is a Jewish gay person and represents homosexual people in the play. Despite he tells Walter that he loves him, he abandons him when his illness worsens. Another unfaithful character is Joe Pitt. Joe secretly carries out homosexuality behind the knowledge of his wife. When his wife suspects him he denies. However, as the play ends he hurts his wife by revealing that he is a gay. He also abandons her and becomes a gay partner of Louis. Roy represents a figure of a powerful and political dimension that symbolizes the era of Regan’s leadership with hypocrisy and brutality. He does not want to accept homosexuality label because he has sexual intercourse with men. He does not want to accept his condition when Doctor Henry diagnosed him with HIV epidemic. He is an influential and wealthy person. Kushner uses Roy to reflect the world political figure who bends rules and cover themselves. He represents powerful people who are AIDS victims contracted from homosexuality but yet cover themselves to be seen clean and moral persons. Harper is a woman who represents women that suffer very much from relationship infidelity. Her husband infected her with HIV/AIDS. The husband leaves later with an emotional desert. Conclusion: In the play, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Tony Kushner uses various themes and different characters performing different specific roles to progress the plot of the play. The uses the main theme of the play - ‘relationship to depicts how it can spread the diseases especially the HIV epidemic. Kushner shows how the dynamics and turmoil of the relationship can cost the human life. Further, he shows that the consequences of breaking relationship are painful – it hurts and causes emotional confusion as is the case with Harper and Prior. In the millennium the relationships come to an end, Roy stretches and bends the law, the characters find themselves in isolation and loneliness. The symbolization of all this wreckage is made by the physical destruction done at the end of part one through the appearance of the Angel. Part two: The design for production of play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. The production of the great work of Tony Kushner of developing the themes and the specific roles of characters is not and easy task. The design of the production requires the best development to realize and feature all elements in the play. The designing team needs to work with total commitment and attention to give the ply the best it deserves. The production should offer much that is admirable at all levels of performance. In the design for this particular production, the following elements need to be put in a thorough consideration; lighting design, sound design, costume design, set design and the scenic design. Set design: it is very important for the designer to offer a metaphoric landscape during the production of this play. A magnificent silver tree may be used to represent the Central Park images in autumn. The tree of that nature will also be used as a symbol that affirms the life. The metallic silver finish of the tree will reflect the skyline of new york city in regard to Chrysler building. A metallic tree trunk with three dimensions consisting of the sensual body parts of Mapplethorpe can be used to grace the stage. The tree should have a single big branch that extends far prompt side where the screen projection hung. The set design should look simple and elegant with a sculptural silver tree with its branch extended. The scrim should appear as if it is floating in the space. Costume design: A sense of the period of the play Angels in America should be offered to the audience via the design of the costumes. The individuals playing the roles of specific characters in the play should be in costumes the reflects those characters. For example, the person to act the role of Roy Cohn should be dressed expensive and stylish clothes. A person should be able to feature the real rich and powerful Roy Cohn. Sound design: the designing of the sound for this play, the sound designer needs to play different musical sounds in different scenes of the play. The musical sounds should conform with the actions being performed on the stage. The sound ought to reveal the right feelings of the actions. For instance, the sound to be played during the funeral of the Louis grandmother should convey the right mood of grief. The audience should be able to know what is taking place at the stage through musical identity. Lighting design: the lighting designer should maintain the stage lights without affecting the projected imagery. To achieve the desired effect, the actions of the stage need to extend to the down stage. With regard to the silver tree, the trunk should have several light states to accomplish versatility. The best illumination can be obtained by having footlights. There should be a lighting conceit that links various scenarios as the acting shift from one scene to the next. The lighting transitions should time the exact soundscape and actions to give a coherent visual composition. Casting process: the play Angels in America is a layered and complex text. Therefore, every role of each character needs emotional dexterity. To cast the right actors is paramount for the success of the production. In this respect, the conduction of several auditions will help to obtain the right actors. Also, it will have actors that can act exactly as the characters in the play. The actors should be able to act out and show the emotions, attitudes and feelings of the of the characters. For instance, an actor playing Harper should show to the audience her feelings when Joe tells her that he is gay. In conclusion, the projected imagery to be used in the production should be able to offer a specific location to the audience as other locations imbue the scene with emotional resonance. The conceit should give an extremely contemporary edge to the process of production to enable compile the visual montage that will take the audience over the genesis of AIDS to 1985 from the current period. Also, much practice needs to be done for the actors to improve physicality. The choreography to be used should bring out the actions in the play being acted out. For example, the drag dream sequence needs a good choreography to make the audience understand well the whole scenario in the play. Therefore, the actors must thoroughly rehearse before the production starts. Works Cited Kushner, T. (1992). Angels in America: A gay fantasia on national themes. London: Royal National Theatre/Nick Hern Books. Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Summary. Retrieved May 10, 2014 from http://www.shmoop.com/angels-in-america-part-1/summary.html Read More