By Kathryn Ellis
The Western Front

Racial insults, homosexual relationships and flying angels are all part of Angels In America, the current presentation on the mainstage of the Performing Arts Center.

It is not the first time this controversial play by Tony Kushner has been performed at Western. The first part of the play, Millenium Approaches, was featured spring quarter 2000.

"This play is like a really good meal; after it is over, you should want to sit around with your friends and talk about it," director Jim Lortz said. "People have gotten farther and farther away from looking out for one another. The content makes them question humanity and their interdependence on each other. Plus, you get to see eight of the finest actors on campus who have perfected seven hours of theater in five weeks."

Five members of the original eight-person cast returned this year to take part in both Millenium Approaches and part two, Perestroika. The empty spots in the cast were filled and the new members had double the amount of work to do, learning and perfecting both parts of the play in half the time last year's cast had.

"It is nice because the administration does not limit what we can and cannot perform," Lortz said. "We don't perform things because they are controversial, but because they make us question our own humanity."

Homosexuality, religion, politics and adultery are all issues addressed throughout the show that takes place in the mid 1980s. Some of the characters include a newly proclaimed gay Mormon and his sexually slighted wife, a homosexual Jewish male and a female angel who has the ability to cause sexual reactions in gay men.

"I play the black ex-drag queen Belize, that happens to be the most stable of all the characters," actor Tshombe Brown said. "The other individuals reveal themselves through talking to me."

Nathan Smith plays Roy Cohn, a fictional representation of a closeted homosexual lawyer who was infamous in 1985 and 1986 when the play takes place.

"At the end of Millenium, Roy breaks down when his doctor tells him he has the AIDS virus," Smith said. "The big evolution of Roy comes from the physical disintegration of AIDS. He still tries to have power when it is being stripped from him out of his control."

With the performance expanding to include flying angels, Mormon visiting centers and hospital rooms the responsibilities of the technical staff have become immense. All the lighting is programmed onto disks and a computer then turns on the lights to the predetermined settings when cued.

"If the lightboard decides to be tempermental then we're in trouble," lighting designer Martin Cunningham said. "I was part of the performance last year and it was a lot of work to accomplish the same amount of work in less time, but is all is coming together."

The music that is part of the play also has its own story. Many of the arrangements featured in the play are original compositions created by Micheal MacEoghain the sound designer.

"In the past, sound has been purely environmental support, such as thunderclaps and rain," MacEoghain said. "I wanted to set up the mood for a scene and convey something through the music. Because the show has more to it than face value, the sound adds to its many dimensions."

This highly debatable play Tony Kushner describes as a "Gay Fantasia on National Themes" has won the author two Tony Awards for best play and the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

"These racist guys, simpletons, I never had any use for them-too rigid. You want to keep your eyes on where the most powerful enemy really is. I save my hate for what counts," Smith said.

For information on "Angels in America" performance times and ticket prices call the PAC Box Office at 650-6146.