Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST) is planning on bringing the Pulitzer Prize- and two-time Tony Award-winning play “Angels in America” back to Charlotte. The performances are scheduled for May, including both parts of the epic saga documenting the HIV/AIDS Crisis of the 1980s.
The play was staged in Charlotte in 1996, resulting in an outcry from anti-LGBT religious leaders and elected officials. As a result, Mecklenburg County Commissioners stripped public arts funding in 1997.
The reaction likely won’t be as rabid this go around, but CAST hopes to use the upcoming performance to shine a light on the local LGBT community’s and Charlotte’s greater history.
The performances will be staged May 7-31. Millennium Approaches (Part 1) will be presented Wednesdays and Fridays; Perestroika (Part 2) will be presented Thursdays and Saturdays. Ticket prices are $28, adult; $22, senior (60+); $18, student.
CAST also plans two back-to-back performances on May 18 and May 25. Dinner, served between the two parts, are included in the ticket price: $100, adult; $75, senior (60+); $50, student.
Directors are Thom Tonetti and Charles LaBorde.
Cast includes Paula Baldwin, JR Jones, Berry Newkirk, Bob Paolino, Joe Rux, Kindra Clyne Steenerson, Will Triplett and Robin Tynes.
The creative team includes Dee Blackburn (stage design); Mike Snow (technical director); Sean Kimbro (sound design); Donald Devet (video director); and Alex Mauldin (composer).
For more information or tickets, visit nccast.com or call the box office at 704-968-9849. Group sales are available through the box office at at groupsales@nccast.com.
Additionally, for a bit of fun, check out the theatre’s “Angels in America” Twitter profile at twitter.com/AngelofAmerica. : :