GRADS (The Graduate Dramatic Society) is auditioning actors for The Normal Heart, the acclaimed play by Larry Kramer, an amateur production presented by arrangement with ORiGiN™ Theatrical, on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. – A Concord Theatricals Company.

- Advertisement -

The play is a searing drama about public and private indifference to the AIDS plague and one man’s lonely fight to awaken the world to the crisis.

Produced to acclaim in Australia, New York, London and Los Angeles, The Normal Heart follows Ned Weeks, a gay activist enraged at the indifference of public officials and the gay community. While trying to save the world from itself, he confronts the personal toll of AIDS.

Documenting writer and activist Larry Kramer’s years on the frontline of a health crisis that would change the world, this inspirational, electrifying, and heart-rending drama and surprising love story is riveting theatre.

The play broke new ground when it premiered in London in 1985, going on to become a multi-Tony Award-winner on Broadway and to inspire the HBO film.

An award-winning revival was presented at the National Theatre in 2021 and the play was staged by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in 2022. Many critics noted social and political parallels between the play’s representation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The acclaimed play won the 1986 Laurence Olivier Award – Play of the Year, the 2011 Tony Award – Best Revival of a Play, the 2011 Drama Desk Award – Outstanding Revival of a Play, the 2011 Drama League Award – Distinguished Revival of a Play and the 2011 Outer Critic’s Circle Award – Outstanding Revival

The play is to be performed at The Actor’s Hub, East Perth: 2, 3, 4, and 8, 9, 10, 11, and 15, 16, 17, 18th November at 7.30pm and 5 and 12th November at 2pm. The dates aligning with Pride FEST.

Rehearsals commence on 2 September, each Monday and Wednesday from 7pm to 10pm and Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm (and Tuesday during production week).

American accents are required for all characters. Roles to be cast are:

Ned Weeks – Lead, Male, 30-50
Felix Turner – Lead, Male 30-50
Dr Emma Brookner – Lead, Female, 40 – 60
Bruce Niles – Supporting – Male, 30 to 40
Tommy Boatwright – Supporting, Male 20 – 40
Mickey Marcus – Supporting, Male 30 – 50
Ben Weeks – Supporting, Male, 40 – 60
Craig Donner/Grady (2 roles) – Supporting, Male, 20 – 50
Hiram Keebler (4 roles) – Supporting, Male, 30 – 50

Auditions, by appointment, will be held at UWA Seminar Room G28 in the Arts Building at 10am to 4pm on 8 July 2023; and 7pm to 10pm on 10 July 2023. Auditions can be booked online.

Further details about the auditions can be found on the GRADS Facebook page and Instagram page.

Larry Kramer was an American playwright, author, film producer and LGBTQ rights activist.

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Kramer attended Yale University and, after a troubled start, graduated with a degree in English. After a brief spell in the US Army Reserve, Kramer began working as a script writer with Columbia Pictures and achieved his first Academy Award nomination with his adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love (1969).

He made an early foray into writing for the stage, with his 1973 play Sissie’s Scrapbook (later reworked as Four Friends) but the play’s run was cut short by the producer despite favourable reviews.

Kramer was openly gay and integrated homosexual themes into his work. His 1978 novel Faggots was considered so provocative and controversial in its portrayal of New York’s homosexual community that it was banned at the only LGBT bookshop in the city.

Kramer’s controversial and uncensored style of writing proved to be a valuable tool during the growing AIDS crisis of the 1980s. He became frustrated by the lack of understanding on how HIV was spread and was actively involved with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC).

However, he was kicked out for publishing his provocative essay 1,112 and Counting (1983), which was intended to frighten gay men into activism by focusing on the spread of the disease and the lack of government response.

Kramer then became involved in the grassroots organization AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and he campaigned militantly for social and legal equality for the LGBTQ society for the rest of his life.

Kramer’s continuing frustration with the government’s indifference towards the AIDS crisis and the homosexual community crossed over into his work for the stage. His play The Normal Heart (1985) was one of the first plays to directly address AIDS and became the longest-running play ever staged at the Public Theatre.

Its sequel The Destiny of Me (1992) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received the Lortel Award for Outstanding Play of the Year. In 1988, he wrote Just Say No, a Play About a Farce, which attacked Ronald Reagan’s administration and its inertia towards the AIDS crisis. Kramer lived with HIV for much of his adult life and died of pneumonia in 2020, aged 84.

Barry Park, who is directing the play, has been teaching, acting and directing since the 1980s, winning many awards.

In Perth he has directed The York Realist, Private Lives, Beautiful Thing, Hay Fever, Present Laughter and Design for Living, (Old Mill Theatre); Arcadia (Harbour Theatre); French Without Tears, The Boys in the Band, A View from the Bridge, The Real Thing, Broken Glass, M. Butterfly, All My Sons and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (GRADS); and August: Osage County and Other Desert Cities (Playlovers).

He has directed many other plays overseas and has performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Grahamstown Festival, and in Perth, London, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, in plays, musicals, pantomimes, films, and radio and television productions and commercials.