ATLANTA ‘NORMAL HEART’ READING FEATURES GAY AND LESBIAN CELEBRITIES
by: Fred Lameck, OIA Newswire

Atlanta 'Normal Heart' reading features Gay
and Lesbian Celebrities

May 12 event to benefit Emory Vaccine Center

Atlanta, April 21, 2008 – An all-star
cast of openly gay and lesbian celebrities will be featured in a reading of
Larry Kramer's pathbreaking The Normal
Heart, among the first plays to deal with the then-still-emerging AIDS
pandemic. This one-night-only
reading of the play will benefit Emory
University's Vaccine Center (www.vaccines.emory.edu) on
Monday, May 12, at 8 p.m. at the home of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

This benefit reading of the seminal 1985
play stars Mitchell Anderson (Party of
Five), Dan Butler (Frasier),
Peter Paige (Queer as Folk), and
Amanda Bearse (Married with
Children). Bearse, who along
with Anderson and Butler were among the first celebrities that
starred in prime time network shows at the time they came out, is also directing
the show.

The Emory Vaccine
Center and Action Cycling Atlanta (www.actioncycling.org), in conjunction
with The Names Project (www.AIDSQuilt.org), which is the custodian
of the AIDS Quilt, is presenting the event at the Names Project's AIDS Memorial
Quilt Building in Atlanta (637 Hoke Street NW, Atlanta, GA
30318-4315). Portions of the AIDS Quilt will be on
display, surrounding the actors, during the reading.

The Normal Heart is a searing drama
about the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic and the formation of the nation's
first AIDS service organization.
The play was originally staged at New York's Public Theatre on April 21,
1985. It is a tale of the fear,
denial, anger, love, and, ultimately, heroism of those whose lives were forever
changed during those first terrifying years of the AIDS crisis. It is especially poignant now, when
twenty three years later 40,000 Americans a year become infected with HIV
disease.

"More than 20 years later, those who
still live with HIV and AIDS and those who are diagnosed every day find hope in
research facilities like the Emory Vaccine
Center, whose
groundbreaking work will soon enter the second phase human trials," says
Mitchell Anderson, who is now Atlanta-based and who is the proprietor of
MetroFresh Café. He continues to
act periodically.

A limited number of tickets are available
for the reading. $60 tickets enable
attendees to attend the show and enjoy beer and wine. $80 tickets include reserved preferred
seating for the show, as well as beer and wine. For an additional $20, attendees can
enjoy a picnic dinner from MetroFresh Café. The picnic dinner and drinks begin at
6:30 p.m.; those coming for pre-show beer and wine only should arrive by 7:30;
the curtain goes up at 8 p.m.

For tickets and further information,
please visit www.actioncycling.org or www.xorbia.com/tickets/heart.

OTHER INFORMATION:

This benefit reading of The Normal Heart was the brainchild of
Action Cycling Atlanta (ACA) founder Todd Wiggins. ACA has raised more than $300,000 for
the Emory
Vaccine Center to fund research for an AIDS
vaccine. The reading is part of a
weeklong campaign to raise money and awareness for Emory Vaccine Center.



The week ends with Action Cycling
Atlanta's premier annual event, the Action Cycling 200. Cyclists raise a minimum of $500
each. They also must train to make
a 100-mile trek from Emory University on Saturday, May 17, to Rock
Eagle. Cyclists make the 100-mile
return trip to Emory the following day.
"We feel that these two events present both the history of AIDS and our
hope for a cure," says Todd Wiggins.
"Finding a vaccine is a long-term commitment. Our ride symbolizes this determined
mindset that will eventually prove successful in stopping AIDS."



"We are thrilled to host this event at
the home of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which will be on display – surrounding the
actors on stage," says Julie Rhoad, Executive Director, The Names Project.



Anderson, Butler, Paige and Bearse will be joined for the reading by
veteran Atlanta
actors Topher Payne (Wizzer Pizzer),
Gregory Morris (Southern Baptist
Sissies), Tony Larkin (Octopus)
and Christopher Lamarca (stringer for
Good Morning America).



Actor turned restaurateur Mitchell
Anderson, actor/director Dan Butler and actor/director Amanda Bearse originally
met at a photo shoot for the Human Rights Campaign's 1996 GLBT voter empowerment
project. "We were literally the
poster children for 'out gay actors' – and there weren't very many of us," says
Bearse, an Atlanta resident since 2006. "Like the characters in the play, the
three of us were at the beginning of a movement. It is incredibly exciting to reunite
with Dan and Mitchell for this amazing event. And to have Peter Paige makes it that
much more special."



Paige won rave reviews and collected
scores of fans in and out of the GLBT community for five seasons on Showtime's
Queer as Folk. "Mitchell, whom I have known forever,
called and asked if I would fly in for this reading," Paige says. "I am thrilled to be a part of it. Until we find a cure, the crisis
continues."



Butler now
lives in Vermont with his partner, actor Richard
Waterhouse (who also will be part of the reading). Butler is currently touring the festival
circuit with his new film, Karl Rove, I
Love You. "It is not
often you are asked to participate in such a powerful event. Reading this play, about the beginning
of the epidemic with the energy of the Quilt around us will be a once in a
lifetime experience," Butler says.



About MetroFresh Café: www.MetroFreshAtl.com Full Story. [4/24/08]