AIDS & A Culture of Fear in THE BALTIMORE WALTZ

Originally submitted by: Barton Bund, The Blackbird Theatre

Paula Vogel's THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, opening at the Blackbird Theatre ([url]http://www.blackbirdtheatre.org[/url]) May 23, shows our world reflected in a fun-house mirror. It is hysterical and irreverent, rather dirty. But for all its surface silliness, it has a unique power. The play gets under your skin, and is remarkable in its immediacy and personal appeal. It first premiered in 1992, but reviving it in 2008, we can see its lasting impact, and we discover its new meanings. The culture of fear we lived in through the 80's and early 90's left us all a bit traumatized. The AIDS virus took on legendary, mythical status, the black plague of our times. It polarized our already- split world, and sparked a major new culture war. It was demonized as a disease of homosexuals and drug addicts. The religious right used it as a scare tactic, a doomsday scenario for what they considered a dangerous lifestyle. Mixed messages abounded as we learned more and more about the terrible and elusive disease. It was incurable, and drugs were hard to come by. A terrible way to die. Patients were blamed for making dangerous choices in their lives, and misleading information was everywhere. How could one catch it? Kissing? Casual contact? Toilet seats? Playwright Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) took a brave and irreverent stance. In THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, she invented a surreal and terrifying scenario where our culture is seized with fear over ATD (Acquired Toilet Disease), a syndrome affecting primarily schoolteachers. Our first-grade teacher heroine (Alysia Kolascz) abandons her life and flees the country with her closeted gay brother (Michael Williams). They tour Europe, he sightseeing, and she spending most of the trip on her back. She sleeps her way across the continent, on a fatalistic, hedonistic journey of self-discovery. Black market drugs are available, but only through a mysterious Third Man (Adam Rezepka). They will barter for the cure, but at a terrible cost. The unconventional and darkly funny play examines the psychology of an epidemic and its unwitting victims. In over two dozen tight vignettes, the play careens toward an apocalyptic yet hopeful conclusion. The play leaves you thankful for the knowledge you now have, after 25 years of living with AIDS in America. AIDS never came home to me until I lost a good friend to the disease. The brilliant Ron Fracker left several years ago. His community of family and friends loved him and supported him through his difficult final years. He had the power to connect with a great many people. Tough and determined, he taught us huge lessons about life and art. He was a difficult but loving mentor to many of us. A brilliant musician, a dynamite producer, and a fierce advocate for the arts, he inspired us all with a desire to change the world. He, like many, contracted the disease during a time when far less was known about it. The risks and methods of prevention were hard to understand. Though over one million Americans and millions more worldwide are afflicted with the disease, we have knowledge and support systems developing now that will help protect us going forward. Our children will live in a different world.