PORTLAND, Maine — The Portland Stage's decision to produce the play "Angels in America" was no coincidence, according to staff.
Part 1 played in May of this year and Part 2 played between October and November at the theater in Portland.
One of the main characters, Joe Pitt, is played by Joe Bearor. In the play, Pitt is a Republican, a Mormon, an ambitious attorney and he's married to a woman. However, that doesn't stop him from falling in love with a man, which then triggers an intense struggle with his identity.
"There are conversations like, can you be this, but also be this at the same time? I think these were conversations we were just starting to have with ourselves," Bearor said.
The play follows more than just Pitt's storyline, diving into the political themes of the age during the mid-80s in New York.
The play depicts the height of the AIDS epidemic, the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian movement, and the Soviet Union collapsing.
"I think it's always a privilege to tell stories about the people affected by politics. I think that's where a lot of hearts and minds get changed," Bearor said.
All those real moments in history are shown through the lens of how they affect people living through it.
"This is not an escapism show, this is a sit down for a moment and let's talk," actress Michela Micalizio, who played the wife of Joe Pitt, said.
Talk is exactly what Micalizio has seen her audience do, after they can't help but notice the eerie parallels.
"Audience members would start asking us, 'Did you put these lines in? Because they are so relevant to today,'" Micalizio said.
Artistic Director for Portland Stage, Anita Stewart, said the timing is not a coincidence. Stewart purposely wanted the themes to coincide with what is currently going on in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
"These issues we think are front and center today and are all of a sudden here for us – it's really us continuing that history moving forward," Stewart said.
Stewart said the play invokes many emotions, but it ends with hope for the future, the feeling she most wants people to walk out of the theater with.
"It's a comfort to say we've been here before, this has happened in the past. Hopefully, that helps us chart a better future forward," Stewart said.
