Angels In America Play Analysis

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1. Tony Kushner- Anthony “Tony” Robert Kushner was born in New York City 1956 to two classical musicians. One year later the family moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana where Tony spent his childhood. Kushner has clear memories of being gay at age six, and says that growing up gay and Jewish in the Deep South “made him more conscious of his distinctive identity as he might not have in heavily Jewish New York City”. Kushner moved back to New York City to attend Columbia where he got a degree in medieval literature, and later went on to receive a M.F.A. from NYU. Kushner is most famous for his two part play “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” which seemed to be an overnight hit when part one opened in 1992. The following year …show more content…

Prior is visited by ghosts and an angel who tell him that he is a prophet, but he denies the idea. Louis, distraught about leaving Prior, turns to Joe, who just came out to his mother, Hannah, and left Harper. Hannah coldly tells Joe that he is being ridiculous and decides to move to New York to help settle the matter. There she takes care of Harper and befriends Prior. Joe tells Roy that he cannot go to Washington. Roy, in an upset rage, tells Joe about his intervention with the Ethel Rosenberg trial that ensured her execution. As Roy gets sicker, he has to be put in the hospital. He is being taken care of by Belize, who doesn’t want to take care of Roy because of the kind if immoral person he is. The ghost of Ethel materializes to witness his last days. As he is dying she sings to him, and tells him that he has been disbarred because he has been unethical.
Louis tries to come back to Prior, but prior will not accept his apology. Belize tells Louis about Joe and Roy’s relationship. Louis is disgusted by Roy because of his personal and political history. He confronts Joe about it, they get into a physical alteration, Louis punches Joe, and they never speak

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