ENG 255 C THE AIDS PLAY

The first major plays to deal with AIDS premiered in New York City in 1985: William Hoffman’s As Is and Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. For the next decade, “the AIDS play” dominated U.S. theatre. However, was the AIDS play truly a genre? Do plays such as Beirut, Angels in America, and Jeffrey have enough in common that they should be considered a cohesive group? This course will examine the genre of the AIDS play within the context of AIDS-themed art, performance, and protest in NYC in the 1980s and ’90s. In addition to the plays mentioned, we will read Zero Positive, Safe Sex, Prelude to a Kiss, Eastern Standard, Marvin’s Room, Love! Valour! Compassion!, and Lonely Planet, among others. We will also spend some time on “the AIDS musical”: Falsettoland, Rent, The Book of Mormon, and others.