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has AIDS during their ongoing breakup. After
Richard's illness worsens, he reconciles with his brother but ultimately asks Saul to buy street drugs so he can use them to kill himself. Saul agrees to do so but has a change of heart after seeing a neon sign from the window of an adult film store. He becomes convinced, and then attempts to convince Richard, that they must find as much joy as possible in the reminder of his life. Before the final monologue of the hospice worker, Saul climbs into Richard's hospital bed for
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would be known as AIDS; answering phones at an AIDS hotline; support groups for people with HIV/AIDS. Hoffman's portrayal of a person with AIDS as both a sexual partner and a person deserving of pleasure without shame was a significant break from the prevailing ideology of people with AIDS as both diseased and pariahs.
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The play was critiqued for reinforcing the trope of the steadfast partner who doubles as bedside nurse that was common to AIDS performances. It included scenes based in
Hoffman's experience as a gay man in the 1980s: where each member of Rich and Saul's friend group were when they first heard of what
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The play begins, and ends, with a monologue by a middle-aged, female hospice worker, describing her new patient, Richard. In the second scene, Saul, one of the two main characters, states that he is Jewish while arguing about possessions with
Richard, who makes an antisemitic remark and reveals he
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This play depicts a gay couple, Saul and
Richard, who open the play, and their separation. Rich's firm decision to separate is reversed when he returns to Saul after contracting AIDS from his new lover. Seeking emotional support, Rich shows how people with AIDS were treated by the American family,
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legitimized "AIDS theater" as both critically and commercially viable which led to investments in dramatic works about AIDS by leading producers that mainstreamed awareness to a general audience beyond the lesbian and gay community..
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Although the play addressed numerous AIDS issues and debunked myths surrounding AIDS, it was not overtly political or critical of institutional, over-arching structures that sustained the spread of HIV, unlike
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Hoffman compared the stories he had heard of people with AIDS having been abandoned by their friends and family, as well as being mistreated by healthcare workers, to the stories he had heard about the
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in 1982 following the death of four friends from AIDS. Worried that the topic of a friend's death would be too "grisly" for a stage production, he centered it on the two lovers. Although
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in the 1980s, has on a group of friends living in New York City. It was one of the early plays, and subsequent TV movies, depicting how the epidemic was affecting gay
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doctors, and friends. Their impersonal and detached attitudes lead Rich to recognize the importance of the partner for the person with AIDS.
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became a critical and commercial success, including a positive review as "the best new play of the season" by theater reviewer
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In 2010, New York's Apple Core
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were among the first dramatic works about AIDS, the first play about AIDS in New York City was
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Confronting AIDS Through
Literature: The Responsibilities of Representation
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Confronting AIDS Through
Literature: The Responsibilities of Representation
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637:"William M Hoffman's As Is to run at Trafalgar Studios | News | The Stage"
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In 1986, Hoffman adapted the play for a television production directed by
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first professionally produced play,with his newly diagnosed disease.
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and David
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Rainbow Jews: Jewish and Gay
Identity in the Performing Arts
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Acts of Intervention: Performance, Gay Culture, and AIDS
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Morgan, Scott C. ”AIDS: 30 Years of AIDS on the Stage”
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565:. September 21, 2011.
371:Awards and nominations
269:Hoffman began writing
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1119:August: Osage County
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810:No Award (1957–1974)
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1401:Off-Broadway plays
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1167:All the Way
1079:Take Me Out
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389:Nominations
283:Night Sweat
265:Development
159:John Glines
138:written by
1376:1985 plays
1370:Categories
1198:Admissions
1183:The Humans
1038:Copenhagen
647:2018-05-30
622:2018-05-30
422:References
328:John Simon
202:Chris Bond
169:, and the
148:The Glines
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762:1955–1975
641:The Stage
418:in 2015.
309:Reception
303:Holocaust
715:5 August
412:Time Out
402:Revivals
259:safe sex
243:'s play
233:epidemic
220:Synopsis
886:Amadeus
680:at the
669:at the
120:Setting
107:English
70:Brother
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376:Awards
67:Barney
1323:LGBTQ
1057:Proof
918:As Is
821:Equus
688:As Is
677:As Is
394:1985
381:1985
338:As Is
324:As Is
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237:As Is
225:As Is
131:As Is
115:Drama
112:Genre
61:Nurse
22:As Is
1327:stub
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1191:Oslo
717:2014
693:IMDb
593:ISBN
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277:and
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58:Rich
55:Saul
1135:Red
1030:Wit
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