“The Call” Act Four “Gravity Defied…?”
Written for the 30th Anniversary of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
September 29, 2012
Image by Homer
Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day.
Whether or not OUR government wishes to recognize it. AIDS has killed over 700,000 Americans: all of them loved.
That is Two Hundred and Eighty times the number of Americans (2501) killed at Normandy…and One Hundred and Fifty-Nine times the number of Allied Troops (4424) killed on that beach.
I believe it is incumbent upon those of us who were there, and those of us who were spared by Time from living through the maelstrom of misery that practically smothered our culture, to remember or to learn and share the knowledge of a population dismissed by its own government until, through our outspoken self-mobilization, those politicians were forced to listen and to act.
One of the powerful, positive things born of the AIDS pandemic is the creation of a global community, previously balkanized. We have come a long way in supporting one another across the spectrum of LGBTQ+. It’s not (yet) a perfect community; though it’s a damn sight stronger and more cohesive than the non-existence, pre-80s.
…And it showed the world that We Are Your Children, and We Are Everywhere.
I thank you, again, for reading.
We Must Never Forget.
I deeply appreciate each person who reads and (if you can) shares this…
KO
ACT IV - Gravity Defied…?
<Performers are lined up, as at a bus stop, across the front of the Stage…>
Rick
WTF!
Congress Just Passed the Ryan White Act! We did it. Can you believe we did it?!? And Congress actually named the Act after him.
Pam
Rest in peace, Ryan.
Patrick
Have you seen that cute Latino guy on “Real World,” Pedro Zamora. He has HIV.
Josh
That’s amazing that they’d put him on TV.
Cindy
It’s amazing he’d go on TV.
Roger
I hear the FDA is working on some fast track process for AIDS drugs… maybe we can get meds before we die!
Rick
They’re calling it a “cocktail,” some sort of triple combination…
Josh
Don’t fool yourself. It’s no party. The drugs feel just as brutal as the disease.
Cindy
There are no obituaries in the BAR, today; NO OBITUARIES.
Patrick
Jesus. Pedro Zamora just died.
Pam
I just read that they’re giving AZT to pregnant women with HIV and it seems to be protecting the infants from infection.
Roger
I didn’t even know it was possible to ride your bike from here to LA. They’re making it a fundraiser! Hey, let’s do it!
Rick
Are you crazy?!?!
Josh
Tom Hanks playing gay, with AIDS!? Antonio Banderas is his lover? I don’t even know where to start with that…
Cindy
We’ve got to do something about the travel ban. It’s absurd. This is the United States!
Josh
I don’t know how many more die-in’s I have in me… Probably only a thousand or so!
Roger
It’s called “Rent,” and it just opened on Broadway.
Rick
A musical about AIDS!? This I have to see…
Josh
It won the TONY?!
Cindy
It’s called Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation – we can’t ignore what it’s doing to the rest of the world!
Pam
The Ryan White Care Act was just reauthorized!
Roger
PEPFAR. If stands for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It’s about time this happened.
Josh
A single pill. I can’t believe I’m still alive to see my entire regimen in a single pill.
Cindy
It’s amazing how receptive the new administration is to our input.
Rick
You’re not kidding. He’s already targeting the needle exchange restrictions and the travel ban.
Josh
Wow. First Magnet and Stonewall became part of the foundation, now STOP AIDS…and opening up in the Castro; very cool.
Roger
I really feel hopeful, sometimes… Like, I think we’re gonna get through this.
<a sudden, encircling appearance by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in the overhead balcony, singing the rousing Chorus of “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” as the audience cheered and clapped…>
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
Producers, Experience Designers, Creatives Note:
The important thing, here, is that we captured and kept the attention of a partying audience through adept, intense storytelling.
Rather than compete with mobile devices, we kept the storytelling focused and intense; thus effectively engaging the audience long enough to communicate, then relinquishing our hold on them for long enough to decompress and express, between acts, then doing it, again.
When the audience again fell to silence as the lights began to fade for Act IV, We knew we’d done it right.
