An all-star livestream benefit performance of scenes from Angels in America in support of amfAR’s Fund to Fight COVID-19. This free 60-minute livestream also features an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner that contextualizes COVID-19 in relation to the early days of the AIDS epidemic. This special event marks amfAR’s historic first foray into Broadway.
The selected scenes focus on the experience of living through a plague, reaching through suffering to find hope, and on America striving and failing to reach its ideals of freedom; the event was followed by a live talkback.
Cast
Roy Cohn | GLENN CLOSE
Belize | JEREMY O. HARRIS
Hannah Pitt | LAURA LINNEY
Belize | S. EPATHA MERKERSON
Candle | DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA
Prior Walter | PAUL DANO
Prior Walter | BRIAN TYREE HENRY
Harper Pitt | VELLA LOVELL
Belize | LARRY OWENS
Harper Pitt | LOIS SMITH
Phosphor | LINDA EMOND
Lumen | NIKKI M. JAMES
Fluor | PATTI LUPONE
Prior Walter | ANDREW RANNELLS
Louis Ironson | BRANDON URANOWITZ
Special Appearances By
Alan Cumming
Jake Gyllenhaal
Dr. Anthony Fauci (left) at an amfAR awards luncheon in 1991 with Rep. Henry Waxman (right) and Dennis Longstreet, president of Ortho Biotech
“We are honored and deeply grateful to be partnering with the brilliant Tony Kushner on this timely reprise of what is considered to be the most profound and poignant artistic exploration of the AIDS crisis. Angels is an intensely personal work that is so much more than just an AIDS play. In this time of COVID and national unrest, its themes of racism and government failings make it as relevant and resonant today as it was when it was first performed 30 years ago. We are deeply indebted to the supremely gifted actors who have so graciously donated their time and talents to bring this mesmerizing production to life and to support the amfAR Fund to Fight COVID-19. And we applaud the vision, skill and industry of the creative team, led by theater director Ellie Heyman, composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, award-winning production designer Paul Tate dePoo III, and TBD Creative Media. Bravo!”
- Kevin Robert Frost
“I’m touched and honored that amfAR and the remarkable Ellie Heyman decided to build this evening around Angels. For over thirty years, amfAR has been steadfastly determined to find a cure for AIDS. Like everyone else on the planet (except maybe some people), I’m praying that the novel coronavirus will prove easier to obliterate than HIV. But I know we’ll all do whatever’s required to defeat this scourge, and I know that amfAR, as it always has been, will be there in the heat of battle with us. So, to everyone involved, and to everyone who watches the broadcast and decides to donate, thanks for supporting this heroic, essential American institution!“
— Tony Kushner
Help Support our Work
amfAR’s Fight Against COVID-19
With 35 years of experience as a leader in infectious disease research, amfAR is uniquely positioned to identify gaps in current COVID-19 research efforts and quickly mobilize resources to fill them. Already, many amfAR-funded HIV scientists have pivoted their work to focus on the immediate crisis of COVID-19.
amfAR plans to support them, along with other scientists with a variety of expertise, by doing what we’ve done for 35 years: fund research with the greatest potential to achieve breakthroughs and get results. That’s why we launched the amfAR Fund to Fight COVID-19. The first research grants from the Fund were announced in July.
