Join our New York City group for the final Book Club meeting of the year, where we’ll dive deep into the dramatic and historical power of AIDS Plays. This is a crucial opportunity to connect with fellow queer and ally professionals and explore how we can better understand and support the community's history of resilience. We'll be discussing three pivotal plays—As Is, The Normal Heart, and Angels in America—comparing and contrasting their depictions of the AIDS crisis in the '80s and '90s, fostering a rich, informed, and passionate conversation about our collective past. Even if you can't read all three, we encourage you to join us to discuss the common, powerful themes.
Register To Join Us
Our Book Club events are free to attend, but space is limited. Register today to secure your spot!
What To Expect
History & Heart :: A discussion about the devastating yet defining history of the queer community in the '80s and '90s.
Witty & Informed Dialogue :: Engaging conversation with queer and ally professionals across the design, construction, and real estate industry.
Advocacy in Action :: Better understand the legacy of queer resilience that informs our advocacy today.
About The Plays
As Is by William M. Hoffman
William Hoffman’s As Is follows a caterer named Rich, who is diagnosed with AIDS and abandoned by those closest to him and returns to his ex-husband, Saul. Rich and Saul drive the play as they float through time and space in vignettes performed by an ensemble of actors. As Is is a raw, theatrical snapshot of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, both the fear it caused and the poignant humanity born out of it.
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer
The Normal Heart, set during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, is the impassioned indictment of a society that allowed the plague to happen, a moving denunciation of the ignorance and fear that helped kill an entire generation. The Normal Heart is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group.
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika by Tony Kushner
Angels in America: a Gay Fantasia on National Themes consists of two full-length plays, "Millennium Approaches" (Part 1) and "Perestroika," (Part 2). In Part 1, Kushner tells the story of a handful of people trying to make sense of the world. Prior Walter is a man living with AIDS whose partner, Louis, has left him and become involved with Joe, an ex-Mormon and political conservative whose wife, Harper, is slowly having a nervous breakdown. These stories are contrasted with that of Roy Cohn (in a fictional re-creation of the infamous American conservative ideologue who died of AIDS in 1986) and his attempts to remain in the closet while trying to find some sort of personal salvation in his beliefs.
About The Authors
Playwright, librettist, and educator William M. Hoffman is best known for his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed play As Is, one of the first theatrical works to focus on the AIDS epidemic. Hoffman attended the City College of New York, studying English and Latin. After graduating with honors in 1960, Hoffman went to work for the book publishing company Hill and Wang. As an editor there he helped promote the careers of several prominent gay and lesbian playwrights, including Joe Orton, Robert Patrick, Jane Chambers, Tom Eyen, and Lanford Wilson. Hoffman embarked on writing a series of short, experimental plays. The 1970s were a rewarding, productive period for Hoffman; he received a series of grants and fellowships that allowed him to concentrate further on his writing. Hoffman earned a MacDowell Fellowship in 1971; a Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities grant, a Carnegie Fund grant, and a PEN grant in 1972; a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974; and grants from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1975 and 1976. It was not until 1985, however, with the production of As Is, that Hoffman achieved wide critical acclaim and recognition.
Larry Kramer was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London, where he worked with United Artists. Kramer witnessed the spread of the disease later known as AIDS among his friends in 1980. He co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which has become the world's largest private organization assisting people living with AIDS. Kramer grew frustrated with bureaucratic paralysis and the apathy of gay men to the AIDS crisis, and wished to engage in further action than the social services GMHC provided. He expressed his frustration by writing a play titled The Normal Heart, produced at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985. His political activism continued with the founding of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, an influential direct action protest organization with the aim of gaining more public action to fight the AIDS crisis. ACT UP has been widely credited with changing public health policy and the perception of people living with AIDS, and with raising awareness of HIV and AIDS-related diseases. Kramer was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his play The Destiny of Me (1992), and he was a two-time recipient of the Obie Award.
Tony Kushner is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Kushner made his Broadway debut in 1993 with both Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. His 2003 television miniseries adaptation of the play for HBO earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie. At the turn of the 21st century, he became known for his numerous film collaborations with Steven Spielberg. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013. Kushner is among the few playwrights in history nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. In 2003, Kushner wrote the lyrics and book to the musical Caroline, or Change which earned him Tony Award nominations for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. The 2021 Broadway revival of Caroline, or Change earned Kushner a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. He has collaborated with director Steven Spielberg on the films Munich (2005), Lincoln (2012), West Side Story (2021), and The Fabelmans (2022). His work with Spielberg has earned him four Academy Award nominations, one for Best Picture, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, and one for Best Original Screenplay.
About Book Club
The Build Out Alliance book club brings members of our community together, from avid readers to short-story dabblers, around many queer voices captured by the written word. Our meetings include open and honest conversations about each book, where we welcome all critiques and opinions. Many of these books are an opportunity to educate ourselves about queer history and identity, often linked to some of the most pressing issues we face today. Book Club’s range of selections intentionally promotes insight into a wide spectrum of topics, identities, and stories within the queer community.
Still have questions?
Reach out to Tommy Guerra at tguerra@buildoutalliance.org with questions or for more information.