The Normal HeartThe Normal Heart, a semiautobiographical play by Larry Kramer, iconic AIDS activist and one of the founders of Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP, made its Broadway debut in April 2011, more than 25 years since its critically acclaimed 1985 off-Broadway opening. The revival garnered five Tony Award nominations and nightly standing ovations. The play follows Ned Weeks, the gay Jewish founder of a well-known HIV advocacy group in New York City, as he, his friends, colleagues and his closeted lover live—and die—raising awareness, funding and political support in the first days of the AIDS epidemic. A 2010 reading brought in $150,000 for charity and led to the Broadway production.