SNAP Productions and the cast of "Angels in America" have topped themselves in just about every way with their presentation of Tony Kushner's "Part II: Perestroika."

While last fall's "Part I: Millennium Approaches" was solid theater, "Part II" takes off and flies with a more striking and functional set by Liz Kendall, sharp direction by M. Michele Phillips and a script that replaces themes of destruction and dissolution with hope and rebirth.

But the biggest transformation, apparent from the earliest scenes of Thursday's preview, is the level of acting from this eight-person ensemble.

Yes, it's the same cast from last fall. Yet the individual performances, across the board, are two notches above where they were then. It's as if the actors have lived with these characters all winter long during the break between shows, absorbing them into the marrow of their bones.

Kushner's soaring themes of the world breaking down and rebuilding itself play out in microcosm as his characters' long-held beliefs are shattered, then reshaped. And with this cast's new focus, the emotional power of individual scenes truly overwhelms at times with layered richness.

Example: When AIDS ward nurse Belize (Roderick Cotton) and seriously ill Prior (Matt Allen) sing "Hark the Herald" to each other over the phone, you can howl with laughter at Belize's cheeky attitude toward the doctor (Therese Rennels) waiting for attention nearby. You can also warm to the camaraderie that keeps these gay men keeping on while staring death in the face.

And when guilt-ridden Joe (Brian Zealand), a Mormon, married Republican lawyer, pounds on guilt-ridden Louis (Stephen Michael Shelton), a liberal Jewish activist who abandoned partner Prior in his greatest hour of need, they make not only their lovers' quarrel but also their self-loathing a palpable thing. Great fight choreography, by the way.

Michal Simpson, confined to a death bed in all his scenes as powerful and corrupt Roy Cohn, uses some kind of actor alchemy to make his audience loathe the character while simultaneously feeling compassion as he hallucinates and howls in pain.

When Ethel Rosenberg (Rennels again), long ago executed because of Cohn, warbles an old Yiddish tune to comfort her dying nemesis, you feel that deeply, too. Rennels has similarly hefty moments as Joe's mother forging an unlikely bond with Prior.

Jennifer Gilg finesses one duet scene after another as Joe's abandoned wife, Harper, as she deals with her mother-in law, then Prior and finally Joe while pulling her life out of the ash heap. Kirstin Kluver makes an intimidating, sensual angel.

All this fine acting brings to life Kushner's amazing words, which have a duality of their own. "Angels in America" is very much a play of its time, the mid-1980s. Yet Kushner finds timeless things to say about religion, politics, the beauty and pain of being alive and the resilience of the human heart.

"Angels in America: Perestroika" adds to one of the strongest local seasons in memory for dramatic plays, affirming the depth of Omaha's community theater talent. This challenging play will be a fine and lasting memory for those lucky enough to catch it.

by Steve Eskew
The Reader
20 Mar 2008

SNAP! Productions has resumed Tony Kushner’s colossal saga of Angels in America. Part 1 ran last November. Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika intensifies Kushner’s tempestuous, wacky and witty examination of the AIDS pandemic at its scariest. Hitting America hard in the mid-1980s, the baffling syndrome turned its sufferers into instant pariahs, often forsaken by fearful lovers, friends, family, medical personnel, undertakers and certainly by their government. Drowning in a toxic political arena of indifference, characters of Kushner’s play also feel abandoned by God, who reportedly left the universe in 1906.

Louis (Stephen Michael Shelton) dumped his lover Prior (Matt Allen), claiming he couldn’t stand to watch the AIDS victim waste away in untold agony. Having journeyed into a madness of hell, heaven and back, Prior may be experiencing dementia when he unwillingly ejaculates as he feels a female angel approaching. The Angel (Kirstin Kluver), who purportedly possesses eight vaginas, has ostensibly contracted a severe case of nymphomania. Convinced that Prior is a spiritualist of sorts, the bizarre being addresses him as “Prophet,” speaking to him from a large crack in the ceiling.

The scene shifts to the deathbed of Roy Cohn (Michal Simpson), a loathsome lawyer who once served as right-hand man for Senator Joe McCarthy, the communist witch-hunter. Though in stage four of his disease, Roy’s worst fear is his imminent disbarment. Characteristically, he treats his wisecracking nurse Belize (Roderick Leon Cotton) with unspeakable disdain.

Since abandoning Prior, Louis has been living with a married Mormon named Joe Pitt. Joe’s pill-popping wife Harper (Jennifer Gilg) wants Joe back, gay or otherwise, and minces no words telling Joe’s prudish mother Hannah (Therese Rennels) that she desperately misses her son’s penis.

The outrageous world Kushner has created becomes profoundly human, allowing spectators to gaze inside the characters’ minds and try to understand the meanings of their uncommon reality. Poignant as the subject matter may be, Kushner’s expertise at burlesquing several scenes precludes the show from becoming overly somber. Beautifully embodying life and truth, the play poetically exposes irregular forces, faces and follies of humanity.

The actors significantly outshine their Part 1 performances from last November. Rennels transforms Hannah from a detached Mormon mother into an empathetic one-woman support system. Zealand perfectly conveys Joe’s frustration with his failure to compromise his homosexuality with his marriage to Harper. Gilg advances the bewildered Harper to saner levels of reasoning.

Kluver endows the insatiable angel with wicked humor and quasi-sophistication. Executing exciting movement patterns as she slithers about the stage, she demonstrates a devilish grace. Allen competently illustrates degrees of suffering with poignancy and wry humor. Cotton’s character exudes authenticity and intelligence. Showcasing his impressive range, Shelton creates a conflicted, multileveled playboy who develops a conscience.

Simpson’s brilliant portrayal of the revolting Roy Cohn requires only one note, but what a note! Though Roy is rotten to the core, Simpson makes the suffering of his horrendous cramps so real that part of you wants to run up to the stage and help him, part of you wants to run away in terror and another part wants to say, ‘you got what you deserve.’

Veteran director M. Michele Phillips has outdone herself. She’s capably crafted a long show and made time fly, particularly by making her players’ complex acting transitions flow seamlessly. Building the play to an exciting crescendo, she meticulously realizes Kushner’s revelation of a doomed minority trapped in a political purgatory, “courtesy Reaganonics.” As well as you think you know these fascinating characters and their ghastly dilemma, you leave the theater craving more.

Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika continues through March 30 at Shelterbelt Theatre, 3225 California St. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6 p.m. Sunday, except the final Sunday, March 30, which is 2 p.m. Tickets are $15; $12 students, seniors and TAG members. Call 402.341.2757 or visit snapproductions.com.