Avi Miller

The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer at Colorado State University, Spring 2023

Director: Wesley Longacre | Set Designer: Bo Burkhardt | Lighting Designer: Jake Mosier | Sound Designer: Ruby Duka | Costume Designer: Lilly Griffin | Prop Master: Avi Miller

Paper Props

Multiple sheets of printed papers scattered on a table.
Professional paperwork that says "House Construction Costs" and "General Liability Release of Claims" with generic text and numbers.
Printed paper that has the Gay Men's Health Crisis logo and address in the corner, followed by the text: "It’s difficult to write this without sounding alarmist or scared. If this doesn’t scare the shit out of you, and rouse you to action, gay men may have no future here on earth. I repeat: Our continued existence as gay men upon the face of this earth is at stake. Unless we fight for our lives, we shall die. In all the history of homosexuality we have never before been so close to death and extinction. Many of us are dying or already dead. I am sick of guys moaning that giving up careless sex until this blows over is worse than death. How can they value life so little and cocks and asses so much? Come with me, guys, while I visit a few of our friends in Intensive Care at NYU. Notice the looks in their eyes, guys. They’d give up sex forever if you could promise them life. I am sick of guys who can only think with their cocks. I am sick of closeted gays. It’s 1982 now, guys, when are you going to come out? By 1984 you could be dead. Every gay man who is unable to come forward now and fight to save his own life is truly helping to kill the rest of us. There is only one thing that’s going to save some of us, and this is numbers and pressure and our being perceived as united and a threat. As more and more of my friends die, I have less and less sympathy for men who are afraid their mommies will find out or afraid their bosses will find out or afraid their fellow doctors or professional associates will find out. Unless we can generate, visibly, numbers, masses, we are going to die. I don’t want to die. I can only assume you don’t want to die. Can we fight together? Ned Weeks"
A printed paper with the Gay Men's health crisis and logo

Paper props created by me, based off of real designs from the early 1980s. All envelopes were stuffed with cardboard and stamped individually if they weren’t stuffed onstage.

Fake Food

Ned (Peter Young) throwing the milk jug and Felix (Trey Wallen) crawling through it

The fish and bread were cut out of foam and painted with acrylic paint. Metal was added to the foam to make them a more realistic weight. The broccoli was made from plastic broccoli, and I added green foam to soften the sound and make them look like full heads. For the milk, we tried different formulas and eventually decided on water and tempera paint because it didn’t stain the stage or the costumes.

Furniture

To match the time period, we bought and made mid-century modern style furniture. This included building and painting hairpin leg tables (done by Jay Duckworth). Throughout the show, we repurposed the desk for different scenes. Jay cut out a table-topper to match the desk, and I glued the phones on top to make the transition between scenes quicker. Because one character is in a wheelchair, we had to make an accessible exam bed that was low enough for her to reach.