The AIDS Plays Project: Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon

The AIDS Plays Project needs your help.

On December 1st, we have been invited to bring our performance of ‘Christmas on Mars’ to RichMix, London, for World AIDS Day.

This is a special day of remembrance for our queer community: an occasion to reflect on the lives lost to the ongoing pandemic, the prejudice and discrimination too often faced by those living with HIV/AIDS today, and the continuing fight for equitable access to healthcare and effective preventive treatments.

We plan to mark the day through a one-off performance of Harry Kondoleon’s forgotten classic of American drama, which we last staged at London Performance Studios in 2023 and have since republished with Polari Press. Kondoleon was a brilliant playwright and novelist, but since his AIDS-related death in 1994, at the age of just 34, his work has tended to be neglected and overlooked in theatre history.

We would like to gather together to celebrate Kondoleon’s work, extend its legacy, and find joy and inspiration in his words.

For our other events, The AIDS Plays Project relies on funding from our commissioning partners, London Performance Studios, as well as generous donations from our audiences and team. Though we have received in-kind support for this special one-off event from the venue, in the absence of further funding we’re going to need help to break even.

Since we launched in 2023, over 1,000 people have enjoyed our performances in-person and online. If you have attended one of our shows, then you’ll know how special these events can be. More than just a rehearsed reading, they are a moment for our community to find inspiration and insight in precious voices from our queer history, as well as safeguarding their memory for generations to come.

In the last year, we have:

We have secured enough funding to pay for venue hire and to pay our actors rates in line with Equity standards. However, we are going to need your help to get us over the finish line with other core production costs.

If we raise £1000, we can cover:

* A lighting designer and tech operator

* Performance rights

If we raise £2,000, we can cover:

* Expanded budget for costume and set

*A stage manager/production assistant

*Programmes, posters and essential advertising materials

If we raise £4000, we can cover: 

* Industry standard fees for our entire creative team

Any amount, large or small, would be enormously appreciated. We know times are tough (when are they not!) for everyone. As a team, we’ve prided ourselves on magicking events out of the tiniest budgets. We do it because we love it and we think it’s a worthwhile project for our community.

We hope you might consider supporting this event, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our future events.

Alastair Curtis

Founder & Director

THE AIDS PLAYS PROJECT:

The AIDS Plays Project is staging and republishing the theatrical works of writers whose lives were cut short by HIV/AIDS. Striving for cultural recovery and repair, the project seeks to mend the connection between these trailblazing writers and a younger generation of queer artists and audiences in the UK. For more info, see: theaidsplaysproject.com

WORLD AIDS DAY:

World AIDS Day is a global movement to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Since 1988, communities have stood together on World AIDS Day to show strength and solidarity against HIV stigma and to remember lives lost. For more info, see: worldaidsday.org.