Medical Humanities series to highlight AIDS, its history in America

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A series of lectures and interactive exhibits, including a keynote talk by acclaimed author Rebecca Makkai and showings of the award-winning play “Angels in America” by Purdue Theatre, are set for February and March, highlighting the history of AIDS in the United States.

The campus events, organized by Purdue’s Medical Humanities Collective, are:

* Purdue Theatre’s presentation of “Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches,” from Feb. 21-23, 27-29 and March 1. Richard Stockton Rand, a member of the collective, will direct the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play written by Tony Kushner.

* Reading and Q&A at 7:30 p.m. March 3 in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall by Makkai on her novel “The Great Believers.” Set against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the book won the 2019 L.D. and LaVerne Harrell Clark Fiction Prize, was on the short list for the National Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Makkai's talk and visit to campus is being presented and organized by Purdue's Creative Writing Program.

* "An “Angels in America” exhibition in the Patti and Rusty Rueff Galleries’ West Gallery, from Feb. 10-28, weaving the art and history of HIV/AIDS and AIDS activism with Kushner’s play. A section of the “AIDS Memorial Quilt” also will be there. A reception is planned for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 27. Purdue Theatre and the Rueff Galleries are in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance in Pao Hall.

* The dance performance “Volledig: Emptied of Shame, Full of Life” on Feb. 10 in Rueff Galleries. Chicago-based dancer and choreographer Rob Welcher created the work, collaborating for a year with dancers, musicians and visual artists impacted by the AIDS crisis. A reception begins at 5 p.m., with the performance following at 6 p.m. in Pao Hall’s Rueff East Gallery. Welcher’s production premiered in Chicago on International AIDS Day, Nov. 29, 2018.

* Books and Coffee discussion on “The Great Believers” at 4-5 p.m. Feb. 27. in Stewart Center, rooms 302/306. Presenting will be Brian Leung, professor and director of the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English as part of an annual series organized by the department to explore contemporary print culture.

All events are free and open to the public.

“While the medical community has helped us in making great strides in treating the symptoms of those suffering from the AIDS virus, someone globally dies from AIDS every 41 seconds every day,” said Rand, professor of visual and performing arts and coordinator of Undergraduate Theatre. “The primary goal of these event sponsored by Purdue’s Medical Humanities Collective is to reach those who normally wouldn’t think they have been touched by AIDS.”

“Forty years after the first reported case, HIV and AIDS are still pressing issues in America. This year, we want to look back at what has happened and what is happening now,” said Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Purdue English professor and chair of the collective.

The series of events are an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in the HIV and AIDS community, particularly in social and cultural aspects, said Wendy Kline, the Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine at Purdue and director of the Medical Humanities Certificate Program.

“This year’s events represent medical humanities at its best — interdisciplinary, collaborative and creative approaches to understanding the social and cultural impact of this epidemic.”

The series is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts’ Medical Humanities program. Supporting sponsors include the Purdue College of Liberal Arts, Purdue LGBTQ Center, Department of English, Department of History, the Creative Writing Program, Medical Humanities Collective, Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance, and Indiana University School of Medicine.

The Medical Humanities Collective is an outgrowth of the Cancer Culture and Community program, a partnership between CLA, the Oncological Sciences Center and Discovery Park that ended in 2017. Since transitioning to CLA, the collective has broadened its focus beyond cancer to explore different illnesses at the intersection of arts, culture and medicine.

Last fall, the collective joined the Indiana University School of Medicine-West Lafayette in co-sponsoring a film festival that focused on the history of AIDS and the effects still present in American culture resulting from the AIDS epidemic.

Films shown will be “Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS”; “The Transformation: Reconciling Identity After HIV Diagnosis”; “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (No Regrets); “This is Not an AIDS Advertisement”; “Zero Patience”; “Asmaa”; “Wilhemina’s War: Fighting AIDS and HIV in the South”; and “The Lazarus Effect.”

Writers: Phillip Fiorini, pfiorini@purdue.edu, 765-430-6189

Jackie Le, le60@purdue.edu

Media contact: Joe Paul, 765-494-9541, paul102@purdue.edu

Sources: Richard Rand, richrand@purdue.edu

Rick Johnson-Sheehan, rjohnso@purdue.edu

Wendy Kline, 765-496-2518, wkline@purdue.edu