At The Beginning of Time: A Reflection on AIDS and Loss

New Play by Steve Gallucio Explores Elderly Gay Men in Little Italy

Philippine d'Halleine

F rom Feb. 21 to March 12, Centaur Theatre Company will present At The Beginning of Time—the newest production by playwright Steve Gallucio. Directed by Peter Hinton-Davis, this play takes place in March 2020, featuring three old gay friends in their 50s (played by Richard Jutras, Michael Miranda and Stephan Lawson) who encounter each other in an emergency room.

Walking the line between reality and fantasy, Michael Gianfrancesco, set and costume designer, hopes to immerse the audience in Montreal’s Little Italy of the 1970s.

The characters explore their past and reminisce about their experiences of joy and loss in a long, introspective discussion.

“It’s about how love evolves in a person's life,” said Gianfrancesco.

According to Hinton-Davis, this collaboration between himself and Gallucio is a work of artistic evolution. Hinton-Davis explained the script features a mix of comedy and drama that will immerse the audience in a new world without disconnecting them from the current reality.

Hinton-Davis added that working with Gallucio on this story was an “obvious” choice. The two men are similar in age to the play’s characters and are both gay—thus connecting them to the production’s themes. Even though each artist has a completely different approach to their craft, Hinton-Davis explained this as a positive. “[It’s a new] dance,” said Hinton-Davis. “It's a difference I'm interested in—not to fight about it, to embrace it, to grow, to become changed by it.”

Hinton emphasized that this play represents a period of reflection everyone goes through at some point in their lives: the importance of remembering what one has experienced and how each person chooses to understand and heal from their suffering.

Stephen Lawson is a part time professor in Concordia’s Theater Department and actor who is playing the role of Patricio. He pointed out how his character “takes life on a very deep level” despite the hardship he has been given. “It makes you think about what it means to be who you are in this world,” said Lawson.

Hinton-Davis explained that the show is in some ways a reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the characters lived through the AIDS pandemic, and parallels are drawn between these two tragedies.