A Mirror of Fear - Has Anything Really Changed? Angels In America

Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner, which I will be referring to as Angels in America from now on, is a play written in two parts: “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika”, respectively. The first part of Angels in America had its world premiere at the Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco, California, in May 1991. At this point, the second part was still being written. The Broadway opening was two years later, with the first part premiering in May and the second in November. Kushner started writing the play in 1987, when the AIDS epidemic was in its 6th year, the Reagan administration was in its 7th, both of which are vital parts of the show.

This show has become known as the quintessential drama of that time and is still read and analyzed and performed to this day. At the time of writing this, there’s a local theatre, Theatre West End, that has parts one and two in their 2026 season. Kushner has been praised by many critics, with Frank Rich from the New York Times stating, “Some playwrights want to change the world. Some want to revolutionize the theatre. Tony Kushner… author of ‘Angels in America,’ is that rarity of rarities: a writer who has the promise to do both.” But what makes this play about the AIDS crisis in New York different from all the other plays at the time? As the Los Angeles Times points out, theatre has been talking about this crisis ever since it started affecting the arts community in the early 80s, with shows like Robert Chesley’s Night Sweat (1984), William Hoffman’s As Is (1985), Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart (1985), and more. The main reason that this is successful is that it's not just a story about AIDS or the gay community; it's a story about America as a whole. From the depictions of prejudice to the reflections of everyday fears to the Christian themes of rebirth and prophets, everyone can relate to this play in one way or another, regardless of whether or not someone they know is gay or affected by AIDS.

As Grace Meise points out in “Angels in America: The Great Work Continues” , the general audience’s fears are reflected back by these characters. This is part of what makes this the show we still talk about. It is a show about AIDS but more than that its a show about America and a show about people’s fears. Louis Ironson, put most simply, reflects back most people’s fear of abandonment. After Prior tells Louis that he has AIDS, he leaves him, a decision that was hinted at earlier when we learn that he wasn’t there for his grandmother when she was sick and died. He just couldn’t deal with the lifestyle changes that dealing with someone who is terminally ill requires. It’s a very real fear for so many people. Who will be there if I get sick? What happens if there’s no one? Harper Pitt is another character who reflects the fears of the audience. I would argue that while she could be seen as the fear of addiction, it is more accurate to say that she reflects people’s fear of losing grip on reality. Her Valium-induced hallucinations make her see people who aren’t there, like Mr. Lies. When she gets arrested in Prospect Park, her hallucination of Antarctica fades away, showing the reality of the situation, and we feel for her. As the audience, we know that Mr. Lies is a hallucination. We know that he is the one who led her here. But we still want her to be safe. We don’t want to think about how easy it is to influence the human mind. While her talks of the ozone layer seem random at first, they could be rooted in a fear of change, like Louis. She longs for a simpler time when she doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of its depletion. Of course, all that is without even mentioning the fear of death that is ever-present. Even powerful characters like Roy Cohen, who has the most power and influence of anyone in the play, must face his death alone, without any of his loved ones by his side.

Meise also points out the similarities of the Reagan administration shown in the play and the Trump administration, especially when it comes to the conservative fear of change and using that to advance their own campaigns. Reagan dehumanized gay men and withheld money from AIDS research, directly leaving an entire community of American citizens to die. Meise points out Trump's dehumanization of trans people and valuing money over potential soldiers in his decision to remove trans people from the military. Since that piece was written in 2019, the dehumanization and outright hatred of trans people has only grown. Most recently, after Charlie Kirk’s death, the administration is looking to label trans people as “violent extremists” and have proposed a plan to label them as “Nihilistic Violent Extremists” (NVE) (Perez and Rabinowitz 2025). This, coupled with the gun ban that was being talked about, which would label trans people as mentally ill and therefore unable to possess a firearm, would put trans people in an incredibly dangerous position (Klippenstein 2025). And that’s not even counting the administration’s work to point the blame at certain groups of people while making life harder for everyday people to get by, but that will be discussed more at length in a future chapter. The fear of change and stagnation in the play can also be reflected more broadly in the fight for social justice. “Perhaps no amount of art and protest will ever truly erase our fear of change. Then again, no amount of fear and regression will ever truly break the spirits of the protestors. Conservatives are too scared of change to relent in their fight against it, just as liberals are too scared of stagnation to stop protesting.” (Meise, 2019) We will always need shows like this because we will always have the next thing to fight for, even when we think it's over.