‘Normal Heart’ in Randolph for World AIDS Day

RANDOLPH – Actor and director Dan Butler, probably best known as the sportscaster Bulldog on NBC’s “Frasier,” is a Vermonter making a difference for World AIDS Day this year.  This Newbury resident has organized both Equity and non-Equity actors throughout the region for a benefit staged reading of Larry Kramer’s Tony Award-winning play “The Normal Heart” tomorrow - Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m., at Chandler Music Hall. In observance of World AIDS Day, Chandler Pride is presenting this performance as a chance for Vermonters to reflect on the lives of people with HIV/AIDS as well as to honor those we have lost to the disease.  Butler’s cast features Lisa Harrow of Woodstock, who starred in “Wit” at Northern Stage and Off-Broadway; and Alan Gelfant of Norwich, frequently seen in productions of the Parish Players, based in Thetford. 
Premiered in 1985, the play chronicles the early years of the spread of HIV, especially the complicated emotions and conversations about love, sex, and death in the face of a disease that at the time was little understood and had little prospect for cure or treatment.  About the play critic Rex Reed commented, “No one interested in the future of the human race can afford to miss The Normal Heart.”
Audience members will have the chance to greet the director and actors and comment about the production at a reception following the reading.
Admission is by donation. For reservations, call (802) 728-6464.