Cape May Stage, East Lynne Theater Company, and Gables Have joined forces to celebrate by
presenting staged readings of two powerful plays about the founding of two Integral Gay Rights Organizations
THE NORMAL HEART (1985)
By Larry Kramer
At Cape May Stage’s Robert Shackleton Playhouse
The Normal Heart�portrays a population at war and a plague that nips at its heels every step of the way. It�is a heartbreaking indictment against ignorance during the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City that led to the creation of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GNHC). Founded in 1982 by�playwright Larry Kramer, Nathan Fain, Larry Mass, Paul Popham, Paul Rapoport, and Edmund White, GMHC continues to support those dealing with HIV-AIDS, but originally this bold organization had to also demand that the burgeoning HIV-AIDS epidemic be taken seriously in not only New York City, but in the nation at large.�The Normal Heart�follows activist Ned Weeks (based on Kramer himself) as he pursues those in politics, the medical profession, and the general public in pursuit of his campaign for awareness, which is actually a race against time, as his friends and lovers are dying.
This hauntingly beautiful play, first produced by Joseph Papp at the Public Theater, opened on April 21, 1985 and ran for 294 performances.�Productions in London, Sydney, and Los Angeles followed. Barbara Streisand organized and introduce a benefit reading for Broadway Cares at the Roundabout Theatre in 1993. The Normal Heart premiered on Broadway in 2011 for a limited engagement at The Golden Theatre.� HBO presented it as a film in 2014.