The Great Work Begins! All-Star Cast Set for Benefit Performance of Tony Kushner's Angels in America

The great work continues! A benefit reading of scenes from Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic Angels in America will take place on October 8 at 8:30PM ET to benefit amfAR's Fund to Fight COVID-19. The 60-minute livestream The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America will be exclusively available on Broadway.com's YouTube channel.

Playwright Kushner and director Ellie Heyman have assembled an all-star cast for the event, including Glenn Close, Paul Dano, Linda Emond, Jeremy O. Harris, Brian Tyree Henry, Nikki M. James, Laura Linney, Vella Lovell, Patti LuPone, S. Epatha Merkerson, Larry Owens, Andrew Rannells, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Lois Smith and Brandon Uranowitz. There will also be interstitial appearances from Alan Cumming, Whoopi Goldberg and Jake Gyllenhaal. Visit TheGreatWorkBegins.org for more info on the cast and creative team.

“I’m touched and honored that amfAR and the remarkable Ellie Heyman decided to build this evening around Angels," said Kushner in a statement. “For over 30 years, amfAR has been steadfastly determined to find a cure for AIDS. Like everyone else on the planet (except maybe some people), I’m praying that the novel coronavirus will prove easier to obliterate than HIV. But I know we’ll all do whatever’s required to defeat this scourge, and I know that amfAR, as it always has been, will be there in the heat of battle with us."

The free virtual event will be followed by a live conversation moderated by Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek. The conversation will feature Kushner, Heyman, amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost and several of the performers. They will discuss the play, as well as activism and COVID-19 research. The conversation will offer viewers who make a donation of $100 or more an exclusive opportunity to hear directly from the cast and creative directors about the event and the importance of joining forces to support COVID-19 research.

Watch the trailer below!