A Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning play exploring life and love in the age of AIDS is coming to the First Coast for the first time. Players by the Sea is producing Angels in America this month, the first time the 1991 classic has ever been produced in Northeast Florida. The literary work is banned from Duval County Public Schools to this day.
"We're excited to do this," said Daniel Austin, who plays the lead character in the show, Prior Walter, a man struggling with AIDS.
"Jacksonville is known as a conservative town, but our town is changing. A lot is happening in our area and it's for the better."
Kushner's Angels is a seven-hour work that explores themes of homosexuality, race, politics and AIDS in the Reagan era.
Despite its ranking as one of the most significant American literary works ever produced, it's also one of ten literary works not available to public school students in Duval County. Still, the show will go on.
"We're excited to put on a Pulitzer Prize-winning production!" says Austin.
Angels in America: Part I: Millennium Approaches runs this weekend through March 29. Tickets are available at PlayersByTheSea.org.
You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax.
