A Time Below

"A Time Below" was first presented in 1999 at the President's AIDS Update Conference in San Francisco, as the centerpiece of the AIDS Theater Festival. The play, taken from the popular novel Mary Go-Round, made waves at the time as controversial. Set in 1982, the play deals with the fact that many in those early days were so afraid to be tested they ended up paying with their lives. But the play goes deeper, showing that every life into which AIDS comes is a full and complex. Courtland Kendoll works for his Congressman, a homophobe and bigot. He falls in love with a black man, which sends his family into a tail spin. Amidst this culture clash, young Cory suddenly finds himself in a head on confrontation with AIDS and his Southern roots. This play is an excellent case study from a recent historical past that speaks to all eras of prejudice, fear and the truth of the heart.