In the 1980s, New York City was an epicenter of the AIDS epidemic that devastated the LGBT community. Scientists and doctors understood very little about the virus and how it spread. Fear and paranoia were rampant, But even as the death toll continued to multiply, the media and the government took little interest. The theatre began responding with visceral plays born out of a quiet, unyielding anger. One of those plays was William Hoffman’s As Is. When caterer Rich is diagnosed with AIDS and abandoned by those closest to him, he returns to his ex-husband Saul. Rich and Saul drive the play as they float through time and space in vignettes performed by an ensemble of actors. The playwright specifies that the ensemble consists of at least four men and two women; casting and distribution of ensemble roles is otherwise flexible. As Is is a raw, theatrical snapshot of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, both the fear it caused and the poignant humanity born out of it.
As Is guide sections
