An Inclusive Litany

7/13/92

From the student newspaper of Michigan State University, May 14, 1992:
Myths ... were crushed Wednesday as the Chicago-based HealthWorks Theater offered its gentle comedic production of "The Wizard of AIDS"...

The show, which started as a project from a University of Iowa student, was well performed. The injection of humor makes the lessons accessible and sharp. Musical numbers are changed to reflect a health-conscious edge.

But, like in the movie, there is plenty of camp.

Dorothy informs Uncle Henry and Auntie Em (who thinks people with AIDS should be quarantined) of human rights, and that AIDS has killed more people than the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

A tornado strike, and she is whisked away into that colorful land of...

...AIDS (Aware Individuals Deserving Survival), where knowledge is kept locked away by the Evil Wicked Witch of Unsafe Sex. Decked out in black Converse high-tops, she proceeds to seek revenge for Dorothy's killing of the Wicked Witch of Needle Sharing.

But ... Glinda points Dorothy on her merry way, and she's on her journey to meet the great and powerful Wizard of AIDS. Perhaps he has a cure to the disease!

She meets up with the Scarecrow (who hits on Dorothy because he doesn't have the "brains" to know about safe sex), the Tin Man (who is taken out of his rusty state with a water-based, nonoxynol-9 lubricant) and the Cowardly Lion (who was getting afraid to touch people for fear of getting AIDS).

The tale ends like the movie. The wicked witch is killed (by a human-sized body condom) and Dorothy returns home by chanting "There's no sex like safe sex" over and over.