The Penn Theatre Arts program, the Provost's Year of Health and the Penn Theatre Initiative are proud to present a staged reading and panel discussion of Larry Kramer’s powerful, Tony-award-winning 1985 play, The Normal Heart.
Kramer’s play, partially fictional but deeply rooted in fact, is a personal and political chronicle of the terrifying early days of the AIDS crisis, and specifically how it was – and was not – addressed in New York City. The Normal Heart is now almost 30 years old – and in the decades since its writing, AIDS has become a more managed healthcare issue, with a far more hopeful prognosis in many cases. Yet the play has not lost its vividness and immediacy, and remains a deeply affecting personal story, as well as an invaluable historical chronicle.
The cast for this production is drawn from Penn faculty, staff, alumni and students. The reading is free of charge, and open to members of the Penn community on a first-come, first-served basis. Following the reading there will be a talk back discussion.
