BEFORE WE ARE HISTORY

October 23–November 8, 2026
Open Space Arts • 1411 W. Wilson Avenue, Chicago

Forty years after the height of the AIDS crisis, BEFORE WE ARE HISTORY returns to the plays and voices that documented a community confronting illness, loss, anger, prejudice—and the urgent need to be remembered.

Presented by Open Space Arts, this three-week series brings together landmark dramatic works, rarely performed pieces, staged readings, conversations, and special events examining how artists responded to the AIDS epidemic from the 1980s to today.

These works are more than historical documents. They are personal, immediate, funny, intimate, defiant, and deeply human. Together, they remind us how theater gave people a way to speak when much of the world refused to listen.

By Jeff Hagedorn 

LIVE THEATER EVENT! A young man, newly diagnosed with AIDS, speaks directly to the audience as he struggles to understand what is happening—to his body, his future, and the people he may have touched. ◆ Written and first produced in Chicago in 1983, ONE is recognized as the first publicly produced theatrical work about AIDS. This intimate 30-minute monologue gave a human voice to the emerging crisis at a time when fear, misinformation, and silence dominated the public conversation. ◆ ONE will be performed alongside other short theatrical pieces from history and today that explore HIV and its impact on individuals and the community. ◆ ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Milwaukee-born playwright Jeff Hagedorn became an important voice in Chicago theater and one of the earliest dramatists to confront the AIDS epidemic. He wrote 11 plays, many dealing with AIDS and its effects on individuals and the community. Hagedorn died from an AIDS-related illness in 1995. 

Friday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 25 at 3 p.m.

By Robert Chesley, created and performed by Jason Bowen and Joshua Bowen

Two men begin an intimate relationship through a series of late-night telephone calls. What starts as anonymous sexual fantasy gradually develops into something deeper—a connection shaped by humor, tenderness, imagination, and the rapidly changing world around them. ◆ Written in 1986, JERKER is one of the defining theatrical works to emerge from the AIDS crisis. Frank, provocative, and unexpectedly moving, the play celebrates gay sexuality while revealing the profound human need for intimacy and connection. ◆ Open Space Arts presents JERKER in recognition of the play’s 40th anniversary. ◆ ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Robert Chesley was a playwright, composer, critic, author, and activist whose work celebrated gay sexuality while confronting the emotional and spiritual toll of AIDS. He wrote more than 30 plays, including NIGHT SWEAT, one of the earliest full-length dramas about the AIDS crisis. Chesley died from an AIDS-related illness in San Francisco in 1990 at the age of 47. His influential work continues to challenge shame, censorship, and the erasure of gay experience. 

◆ CONTENT ADVISORY: JERKER contains explicit sexual language, mature subject matter, and partial nudity.

Open Space Arts presents JERKER in recognition of the play’s 40th anniversary.

Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 1 at 3 p.m.

Monday, November 2, at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 8 at 3 p.m.

JERKER contains explicit sexual language and mature subject matter.

By Robin Swados 

LIVE THEATER EVENT! Three men—a teacher, an aspiring jazz pianist, and an unemployed actor—share a worn Manhattan apartment. All have lost their jobs, faced rejection from their families, and are living with AIDS. ◆ Through their relationships with one another, an unseen psychiatrist, and a former lover, A QUIET END explores friendship, loyalty, faith, fear, and the meaning of chosen family. ◆ First produced in 1986, the play was among the earliest theatrical works to examine the human experience of the AIDS crisis. Rather than concentrating on politics, it gives its attention to the men themselves—celebrating people who, in the face of death, become determined to embrace life. ◆ Open Space Arts presents the long-overdue Chicago premiere of A QUIET END as a special 40th-anniversary, pay-what-you-can staged reading. ◆ ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Robin Swados is an American playwright, writer, and editor. A QUIET END received productions in the United States and internationally before opening Off-Broadway in 1990. The play remains his best-known theatrical work and an important early portrait of friendship and chosen family during the AIDS crisis.

Tuesday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Selected Sunday performances will be followed by conversations with artists, activists, historians, and community organizations. These discussions will consider the legacy of the AIDS crisis, the people and organizations that responded, and the work that remains to be done.

Additional participants and conversation topics will be announced.

The first generation of plays about AIDS was written in an atmosphere of fear, silence, political indifference, and devastating personal loss. Playwrights documented what was happening while it was happening, ensuring that the people at the center of the crisis would not disappear without leaving their stories behind.

Four decades later, many of these works are seldom produced. Some are in danger of being forgotten altogether.

BEFORE WE ARE HISTORY brings these plays back into the room—where audiences can encounter them not simply as artifacts of another era, but as living works of theater with something urgent to say about love, community, survival, and responsibility.

The project also honors those we lost, those who cared for them, those who fought for change, and those who continue to live with HIV today.

Open Space Arts
1411 W. Wilson Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60640

Open Space Arts is an intimate storefront theater located in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

General admission and discounted senior and student tickets will be available for individual performances. Capacity is limited, and advance reservations are strongly recommended.