World Theatre Premiere Of Ain Gordon's THESE DON'T EASILY SCATTER Comes to Philadelphia

Philadelphia's William Way LGBT Community Center's John J. Wilcox, Jr Archives today announced the world premiere of These Don't Easily Scatter by three-time Obie award-winning writer and director Ain Gordon. Gordon's new play will open as part of Remembrance: an alternative memorial dedicated to Philadelphians and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Remembrance is a memorial experience with civic and theatrical performances, oral histories, all designed in partnership with artists, activists, and community leaders to honor those we have lost to AIDS.

The work premieres as part of the recently announced Remembrance: an alternative memorial to Philadelphians and the HIV/AIDS crisis, supported by funding from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Partnering with local artists, activists, and community leaders, Remembrance is a two-year long public memorial experience, including the collection of oral histories, permanent digital histories, the world premiere of These Don't Easily Scatter, and a culmination during Pride Month on June 25, 2022 in a stunning and profound "going home" ceremony titled Gone and Forever, that will include a memorial ceremony and procession through the streets of Philadelphia with urns developed in dedication to those Philadelphians who died of AIDS and are at risk of being forgotten.

Ain Gordon's These Don't Easily Scatter is inspired by Remembrance's oral history project and more than twenty interviews Gordon personally conducted chronicling stories of Philadelphia-area community members who have passed unnoticed, with or without the love and support of families throughout the HIV/AIDS crisis.

The work follows three imagined figures navigating the early years of the AIDS crisis in Philadelphia: a nurse starting her career one year before the city's first officially diagnosed case; an inexperienced man tiptoeing toward his sexuality while everything changes; and a middle-aged chorister joining a church that must reimagine itself for a community in need.

"...artist Ain Gordon haunts the margins of history. Main events featuring famous people, the kind recorded with unblinking authority in encyclopedia entries, have never been his primary interest...Mr. Gordon conjures the sort of distant lives that don't make it into textbooks, processed into oblivion by what he calls history's "ruthless editing machine." - The New York Times

Production credits:

These Don't Easily Scatter

Written and directed by Ain Gordon

Cast: Kathleen Chalfant, Bill Kux, and Cherene Snow

Stage Manager: Ed Fitzgerald

Lighting Designer: Kelly Martin

Producer: Alyce Dissette

These Don't Easily Scatter is commissioned by The William Way LGBT Community Center and produced in collaboration with Pick Up Performance Co.

Performance schedule:

May 20: 7:30PM (opening); May 21: 3PM, 7:30PM; May 22: 3PM

William Way LGBT Community Center

1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19107