About the Play:

The Normal Heart has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Male/Male Scenes.

The Normal Heart and The Destiny of Me contains two full-length dramas by Larry Kramer. The autobiographical plays The Normal Heart and The Destiny of Me were among the first artistic productions to focus directly on the AIDS epidemic and put it in the public eye.

The Normal Heart, set during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, is the impassioned story of Ned Weeks, a gay activist enraged at the indifference of public officials and the gay community. 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. The Normal Heart is a central work to the history of the LGBTQ movement and its theater. (Cast: 1 female, 8 male)

The Destiny of Me, a companion play to the 1985 classic The Normal Heart, follows Ned Weeks who has tested HIV positive and has checked into a hospital. As he undergoes an experimental treatment for AIDS, Ned reexamines his life as a young gay man growing up in a household and a world reluctant to accept who he is. He battles with the medical establishment even as he finds himself confronting his life and fighting to get a little more time among the living. (Cast: 2 female, 5 male)

The Normal Heart was selected as one of the 100 Greatest Plays of the Twentieth Century by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, and The Destiny of Me was selected as a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

About the Playwright:

Larry Kramer (1935-2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist. After receiving his B.A. from Yale in 1957, he entered the film industry, becoming Assistant to the President of, first, Columbia Pictures, and then United Artists. He lived in London from 1961-1970, where he produced and wrote the screenplay for the film of D. H. Lawrence's classic novel, Women in Love. His screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. His play about the early years of AIDS, The Normal Heart, has been produced all over the world.