Paris Barclay

Isaih Turner didn’t want to be a hero-all he wanted was revenge. Orphaned when both his parents were cruelly murdered by the wealthy and powerful Cyrus Bloomington, the young Isaiah grew up with one air in mind: to find the man who killed his folks and take him down.

Directed by Emmy Award-winning director Paris Barclay, this presentation, the first after Kramer's death, is also the first time the Tony Award-winning play features a predominately BIPOC and LGBTQ cast. First staged in New York City in 1985 at The Public Theater, THE NORMAL HEART went on to become the longest running play there. Dealing with the painful experiences of the early days of the AIDS crisis when everything was still mysterious, the play dramatizes the struggle among gay men over which strategies would save their lives. Larry Kramer was a distinguished novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, and a pioneering AIDS activist. In 1982, he co-founded Gay Men's Health Crisis, and then in 1987, he founded ACT UP. He died at the age of eighty-four in May, 2020. He is survived by his husband, David Webster.

Traveling back to the places where he grew up, Dustin Lance Black explores his childhood roots, gay identity and close relationship with his mother, who overcame childhood polio, abusive marriages and Mormon dogma, while becoming Black’s emotional rock and, ultimately, the inspiration for his activism. With a wealth of personal photographs and candid memories from Black’s family, colleagues, and friends, this documentary embraces the personal to tell a universally hopeful tale of resilience and reconciliation through the power of love and shared stories.