1984

DATE UNKNOWN
Night Sweats
Robert Chesley

1985

APRIL 21
The Normal Heart
Larry Kramer
The longest-running play of New York City’s Public Theatre.

MAY 1
As Is
William M. Hoffman
The first Broadway play about AIDS. Nominated for three Tonys, including Best Play.

JUNE 4
The Lisbon Traviata
Terrence McNally
Compares AIDS to opera.

NOVEMBER 3
The Best of the Best, the first star-studded AIDS benefit.

1986

JULY 18
Jerker, or the Helping Hand
Robert Chesley
At the dawn of the age of safe sex, two men have a phone relationship.

DECEMBER 9
Actors Equity Association creates the Equity Fights AIDS Committee.

1987

JANUARY 9
Safe Sex
Harvey Fierstein

MARCH, DATE UNKNOWN
Beirut
Alan Bowne

APRIL 18
The first Easter Bonnet Competition, hosted by the company of La Cage aux Folles, raises $21,000. (In 1996, they raised $1.3 million).

OCTOBER 23
Laughing Wild
Christopher Durang

1988

FEBRUARY 10
Broadway Cares is founded. Kickoff includes Peter Allen, Judith Ivey, Joel Grey and Linda Lavin.

APRIL 16
Zero Positive
Harry Kondoleon
Father and son grapple with their mortality-the son with AIDS, the dad facing his wife’s recent death.

JUNE 7
The Equity Fights AIDS Late Night Cabaret Series premieres and raises $700. (It has since raised more than $310,000.)

JUNE 8
A Poster of the Cosmos
Lanford Wilson

OCTOBER 11
Eastern Standard
Richard Greenberg

NOVEMBER 28
The first Broadway Flea Market raises $7,000. (The 1996 flea market raised $468,000.)

1989

FEBRUARY 10
The Way We Live Now
Susan Sontag with Edward Parone

NOVEMBER 28
The first Gypsy of the Year competition raises $64,000. (1995 competition raised $1.213 million.)

DATE UNKNOWN
intimacies
Michael Kearns

1990

MAY 18
Andre’s Mother
Terrence McNally

JUNE 8
Falsettoland
William Finn
The first AIDS musical. This became the second act of Falsettos, which opened on Broadway in 1992, winning two Tonys.

OCTOBER 18
The Baltimore Waltz
Paula Vogel

1991

APRIL, DATE UNKNOWN
Someone Else in Queens is Queer
Richard Elovitch

DECEMBER 21
Raft of the Medusa
Joe Pintauro

1992

MARCH 10
Before It Hits Home
Cheryl West
The secret silence of AIDS in the black community.

MARCH 19
My Queer Body
Tim Miller

APRIL 8
Broadway Bares founded. Eight dancers in rotation raise $8,000. (The 1996 Broadway Bares raised $87,000.)

MAY, DATE UNKNOWN
Roy Cohen/Jack Smith
Ron Vawter

MAY 11
Bad Dream
Craig Lucas

JUNE 22
The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me
David Drake
A young man is politicized.

JULY 21
A Certain Level of Denial
Karen Finley

OCTOBER 20
The Destiny of Me
Larry Kramer
Follow-up to The Normal Heart.

1993

JANUARY 20
Jeffrey
Paul Rudnick

JANUARY 20
Lonely Planet
Stephen Dietz
Inspired by Ionesco’s play The Chairs.

MAY 4
Angels in America
Tony Kushner
The epic that powerfully altered the theater by thrusting the realities of the ’80s before our eyes. Won multiple awards, including a slew of Tonys and the Pulitzer Prize.

1994

JULY 6
What Are Tuesdays Like?
Victor Bumbalo

1995

JANUARY 20
Love! Valour! Compassion!
Terrence McNally
A hysterical account of a series of holiday weekends shared by a group of friends. Tony Award winner for Best Play; currently a feature film.

APRIL 20
A Language of Their Own
Chay Yew
Focuses on the Asian-American community.

MAY 10
Dog Opera
Constance Congdon

1996

APRIL 29
Rent
Jonathan Larson
A Hair for the ’90s. One of the biggest hits of the century offers a fresh look at Generation X, with a focus on AIDS.