The New York Times - September 1, 2009
Patrick Healy

The production, to be directed by Michael Greif ("Next to Normal," "Rent"), will open at the Signature's 160-seat theater late in 2010, and is expected to run for about four months, said the artistic director, James Houghton. Both plays that make up "Angels" -- "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika" -- will run in repertory; the theater also plans to have performance days where the plays (each three and a half hours) are presented back to back.

Set in 1985 and 1986 against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and the Reagan administration, "Angels" interweaves the stories of a gay couple grappling with AIDS; a closeted Mormon lawyer and his drug-addicted wife; and several other, often fantastical characters, from the real-life, right-wing lawyer Roy Cohn to a steel-winged angel who memorably crashes through a ceiling at the end of "Millennium Approaches."

"Millennium Approaches" opened on Broadway in May 1993 and "Perestroika" that November, and were widely praised as landmark works of theater as well as significant meditations on gay life, politics, and religion in America. Both parts of "Angels" won Tony Awards in 1993 and '94 for best play, and "Millennium Approaches" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1993.

Mr. Houghton said that he and Mr. Kushner agreed very quickly that the timing was ripe to include an "Angels" revival in a season devoted to Kushner plays (Signature features work by a single playwright over a full season).

"Among other things the play is a rumination on how we confront change, the challenge of change, and our choices around the themes of changes -- both the courageous choices we make and the less so," Mr. Houghton said. "It's an incredibly relevant piece of writing for the America that we're living in today."

No casting decisions have been made yet, and Mr. Houghton said that the creative team was in the early stages of conceptualizing an epic work like "Angels" for Signature's intimate Off Broadway space on 42nd Street.

"It's a huge challenge to figure out how to make these terrifically theatrical elements come to life within certain space limitations, but the great thing about theater is that limitations often yield truly creative and original results," Mr. Houghton said.

Asked if the angel would still crash onto the stage at the end of "Millennium Approaches" -- a moment that prompts a character to remark, "Very Steven Spielberg" -- Mr. Houghton said, "We don't know yet how we're solving that particular challenge."

Mr. Kushner said in a statement that Signature was "the perfect space" for both the epic and intimate qualities of "Angels." He is likely to attend rehearsals, Mr. Houghton said, but has no plans to do any new writing on "Angels."

The Kushner season will include two other plays, which Mr. Houghton was not ready to announce yet. He said he and Mr. Kushner were discussing the possibility of him writing a new play -- Signature seasons often include a new work by the playwright being showcased -- but nothing had been decided.

As part of Signature's Ticket Initiative, sponsored chiefly by Time Warner Inc., all tickets to "Angels" will be $20. The production is also being supported by a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provided expressly for the "Angels" revival, Mr. Houghton said.
090901
NYT090901