Tony Kushner’s landmark epic launches one of the most ambitious theatrical journeys ever staged. Set in New York City in the mid-1980s, the play follows characters whose relationships, beliefs, and political assumptions are being forced to change during the AIDS crisis and the Reagan era. The central question is not simply whether people can survive change, but whether human beings can ever stop changing. Part 1 is therefore a story of impending transformation: illness, identity, sexuality, courage, politics, faith, relationships, and the cosmic order are all becoming unstable at once.