The Normal Heart was among the first plays to deal with the then-still-emerging AIDS pandemic. Now, a special one-night-only reading of the play by a celebrity cast will benefit Emory University’s Vaccine Center ...
Celebrity cast featured in May 12 benefit event in Atlanta
The Normal Heart was among the first plays to deal with the then-still-emerging AIDS pandemic. Now, a special one-night-only reading of the play by a celebrity cast will benefit Emory University’s Vaccine Center (www.vaccines.emory.edu) on Monday, May 12, at 8 p.m. at the home of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The Emory Vaccine Center and Action Cycling Atlanta (www.actioncycling.org), in conjunction with The Names Project (www.AIDSQuilt.org), which is the custodian of the AIDS Quilt, is presenting the event at the Names Project’s AIDS Memorial Quilt Building in Atlanta (637 Hoke Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318-4315). Portions of the AIDS Quilt will be on display, surrounding the actors, during the reading.
This benefit reading of Larry Kramer’s seminal 1985 play stars Mitchell Anderson (Party of Five), Dan Butler (Frasier), Peter Paige (Queer as Folk), and Amanda Bearse (Married with Children). Bearse also is directing the show.
The Normal Heart is a searing drama about the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic and the formation of the nation’s first AIDS service organization. The play was originally staged at New York’s Public Theatre on April 21, 1985. It is a tale of the fear, denial, anger, love, and, ultimately, heroism of those whose lives were forever changed during those first terrifying years of the AIDS crisis.
“More than 20 years later, those who still live with HIV and AIDS and those who are diagnosed every day find hope in research facilities like the Emory Vaccine Center, whose groundbreaking work will soon enter the second phase human trials,” says Mitchell Anderson, who is now Atlanta-based and who is the proprietor of MetroFresh Café. He continues to act periodically.
A limited number of tickets are available for the reading. $60 tickets enable attendees to attend the show and enjoy beer and wine. $80 tickets include reserved preferred seating for the show, as well as beer and wine. For an additional $20, attendees can enjoy a picnic dinner from MetroFresh Café. The picnic dinner and drinks begin at 6:30 p.m.; those coming for pre-show beer and wine only should arrive by 7:30; the curtain goes up at 8 p.m.
For tickets and further information, please visit www.actioncycling.org or www.xorbia.com/tickets/heart.
The week ends with Action Cycling Atlanta’s premier annual event, the Action Cycling 200. Cyclists raise a minimum of $500 each. They also must train to make a 100-mile trek from Emory University on Saturday, May 17, to Rock Eagle. Cyclists make the 100-mile return trip to Emory the following day. “We feel that these two events present both the history of AIDS and our hope for a cure,” says Todd Wiggins. “Finding a vaccine is a long-term commitment. Our ride symbolizes this determined mindset that will eventually prove successful in stopping AIDS.”
“We are thrilled to host this event at the home of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which will be on display – surrounding the actors on stage,” says Julie Rhoad, Executive Director, The Names Project.
Anderson, Butler, Paige and Bearse will be joined for the reading by veteran Atlanta actors Topher Payne (Wizzer Pizzer), Gregory Morris (Southern Baptist Sissies), Tony Larkin (Octopus) and Christopher Lamarca (stringer for Good Morning America).
Actor turned restaurateur Mitchell Anderson, actor/director Dan Butler and actor/director Amanda Bearse originally met at a photo shoot for the Human Rights Campaign’s 1996 GLBT voter empowerment project. “We were literally the poster children for 'out gay actors' – and there weren't very many of us,” says Bearse, an Atlanta resident since 2006. “Like the characters in the play, the three of us were at the beginning of a movement. It is incredibly exciting to reunite with Dan and Mitchell for this amazing event. And to have Peter Paige makes it that much more special.”
Paige won rave reviews and collected scores of fans in and out of the GLBT community for five seasons on Showtime's Queer as Folk. “Mitchell, whom I have known forever, called and asked if I would fly in for this reading,” Paige says. “I am thrilled to be a part of it. Until we find a cure, the crisis continues.”
Butler now lives in Vermont with his partner, actor Richard Waterhouse (who also will be part of the reading). Butler is currently touring the festival circuit with his new film, Karl Rove, I Love You. “It is not often you are asked to participate in such a powerful event. Reading this play, about the beginning of the epidemic with the energy of the Quilt around us will be a once in a lifetime experience,” Butler says.
About MetroFresh Café: www.MetroFreshAtl.com