25th anniversary reading of Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" at the Geffen Playhouse

Produced by David Youse in tandem with the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, Larry Kramer's  heart-wrenching play, The Normal Heart,  which chronicles the devastating early stages of the AIDS plague in New York City received a beautiful and emotionally turbulent staged reading Monday night, commemorating its 25 year anniversary, at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. Proceeds from the event will help fund the Jeffrey Goodman special care clinic at the LAGLC.

Masterfully directed by Academy award winner Joel Grey , and starring Dylan Walsh , Lisa Kudrow, Tate Donovan, David Eigenberg, Clark Gregg, Tim Bagley, Jon Tenney, Dan Bucatinsky, and Alec Mapa the staged reading went above and beyond expectations, re-illuminating this important play that was the first to testament the desperate, cold and dark journey that gays and people infected with HIV/ AIDS had to endure in the early years of the disease's fatal spread. With no government support, city or Federal, when even the New York Times was afraid to dare mention the virus despite the hundreds of confirmed deaths, coiinciding a Mayor's refusal to acknowledge the current health emergency ravaging his own city, Kramer was bravely there giving homage to the thousands of loving, gentle men that died lonely and miserable deaths at the hands of the terrible virus.

Highlighting the strides we've made as a minority group in America, as well as the progress made combating the disease, the play reminds us that there is much more that needs to be done, much more awareness that needs be dutifully spread, and that the fight is long from over.

With strong notable performances by Dylan Walsh who played the unflinching activist Ned Weeks to perfection, a beautifully touching performance by Tate Donovan as his lover, Felix Turner, as well as an emotionally wrought portrayal of a embattled gay activist Mickey Marcus by David Eigenberg, the reading was an astounding tribute to this important record of one of the darkest moments in gay history.

Thanks to the Center, to Joel Grey and the talented cast who charged triumphantly through the piece; the evening was a stirring, thought provoking glimpse into the past, the present and our community's future.

For more information on the event, archival footage, or on the Jeffrey Goodman special care clinic at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, visit: laglc.org