"Jerker" mentions AIDS directly much less than many so-called AIDS plays. And while it was certainly not the only play of its day to deal with the topic, it was part of an early, radical wave.
"When nobody else was talking about it, live theater was where the artists really started to address the epidemic back in the early '80s, and this play was one of the first," Howell says. "This wasn't just a play, it was part of a collective finding its voice."
Subsequently, the theater produced a wide variety of plays dealing both directly and indirectly with AIDS, such as the 1985 dramas "As Is" and "The Normal Heart," the William Finn-James Lapine musical "Falsettos" and Tony Kushner's "Angels in America." Then too there are the plays and performance art of such varied artists as Reza Abdoh, James Carroll Pickett, Ron Athey, Tim Miller, John Fleck, Karen Finley, Diamanda Galas and countless others.
Many of the works created in the '80s and '90s, however, have fallen by the theatrical wayside. "Works like Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart,' while important to its day, are not aging as well because they are polemical," Thompson says. "And impassioned politics, as we know, does not usually make for enduring art."
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Emphasizing the romance
IN the past, "Jerker" has typically been staged in overtly sexual ways, including with beds, nudity and suggestive physicalization. But Kearns is taking a different approach. "I have seriously rethought the production for this incarnation," he says. "In this production, it's the tear-jerker aspect that will dominate the proceedings, whereas in both the other productions, it was the sexual aspect.
"The actors will be fully clothed. In fact, it will be staged almost like a radio play, emphasizing the gorgeous language. After all, the characters experience each other aurally and, in this production, the audience will experience them more aurally than visually."
This, he says, should bring out the play's continued value. "I always feel a responsibility to the audience: I want them to see themselves reflected," says Kearns. "And the reflection I'm hoping to bounce back is different in 2006 than it was in 1986."
While still set in 1985, this 20th anniversary staging may also elucidate the play's unintended topicality. Says Gill: "My character, J.R., says: 'I was in Vietnam.... I learned what immoral means. And that's why nobody, but nobody, tells me I'm immoral if I love a man.' And while the government and society are preoccupied with gay marriage as opposed to the death of Americans in Iraq, 'Jerker's' message will still ring loud."
But "Jerker" is not ultimately a "message" play, it is a human play. "There is anger, sadness and even rage but a warm humanity and resiliency of spirit expressed in Robert's writing," says Thompson. "I think audiences will be seeing this piece another 50 years from now with the same emotional involvement as they did when it first appeared -- and as they still do today."
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'Jerker'
Where: Highways Gallery and Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Price: $20
Contact: (310) 315-1459 or www.highwaysperformance.org
Also
Where: Moving Arts, 1822 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake
When: 8 p.m. Aug. 18 and 19, 25 and 26
Price: $20
Contact: (323) 856-6168
