Carolina Award (1992), the Women in Film Award
(1992), the National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People’s Spingarn Award (1994), a
tribute from Congress (1996), and awards from the
National Conference of Christians and Jews, the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Los
Angeles), and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Legacy
Association (1996). Performers, writers, women, di-
rectors, activists, teachers, and African Americans
use her work and her life as models.
Further Reading
Angelou, Maya. Collected Autobiographies of Maya
Angelou.New York: Modern Library, 2004.
Wilkinson, Brenda. Black Stars: African American
Women Writers.New York: John Wiley & Sons,
2000.
Anita Price Davis
See also African Americans; Alvarez, Julia; Clinton,
Bill; Komunyakaa, Yusef; Literature in the United
States; Million Man March; Poetry; Strand, Mark;
Winfrey, Oprah.
Angels in America
Identification Award-winning play
Author Tony Kushner (1956- )
Date Millennium Approachesfirst performed in
1991,Perestroikafirst performed in 1992
This award-winning epic drama by Tony Kushner changed
the face of American theater in the 1990’s. A powerful reac-
tion to the devastating effects of the AIDS epidemic, it forced
the American public to confront and challenge their beliefs
about sexuality and politics.
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
was written and first performed in two parts. Part
one,Millennium Approaches, received its world pre-
miere in San Francisco in 1991 and debuted in
London in 1992, receiving national attention. Tony
Kushner continued his work on part two,Perestroika,
asMillennium Approacheswas still enjoying its theat-
rical run.Perestroikawas first performed in 1992,
and a year later it too debuted in London to re-
ceive critical acclaim. The two parts finally arrived
on Broadway in 1993. The play, performed in its
entirety, spans a length of approximately seven
hours.
The play is set in New York City in the mid-1980’s,
in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. At the drama’s
center are two relationships: one between Louis
Ironson and Prior Walter, a gay couple confronting
the reality of AIDS; the other between Joe Pitt and
his wife Harper, a Mormon couple whose marriage is
falling apart. Audiences learn that Prior has con-
tracted the AIDS virus; although Louis attempts to
care for Prior, he is ultimately unable to deal with the
intensity of the illness and flees the relationship.
Meanwhile, Joe, a Republican lawyer working for the
notorious Roy Cohn, grapples to deal with his own
closeted homosexuality. As these individuals strug-
gle to endure in a world that offers little solace, their
lives become intertwined in ways none of them
could have predicted.
Angels in Americais an epic drama, the action of
the play spanning distances of time and space. Char-
acters, many of whom perform multiple roles, wan-
der in and out of dreamscapes and are transported
to absurd locations. At all times, the audience is
made aware of the theatricality of the performance
and made to consider the play as a political forum.40 Angels in America The Nineties in America
Tony Kushner.(Columbia University/Courtesy Jay Thompson)