Remember what it was like way back in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic? The fear and loss, but also the community and compassion?
Maybe you were too young. Maybe, like a lot of us, you moved on with you lives. With his 2014 Tony-nominated play “Mothers & Sons,” playwright Terrence McNally thinks it’s time to take a look back and reflect on what we’ve learned, maybe think about how far we’ve come along and what we still might do.
And the Boston-based History Project is participating with a panel discussion featuring local advocates, activists and individuals affected by HIV/AIDS immediately following the Wednesday, June 3, show of Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage. Show time is 7:30 p.m. with the panel starting roughly at 9 p.m. For details about the play, check out SpeakEasy’s website.
Here the scoop on the panelists:
Wanda A. Allen is the Associate Director, Community Education and Engagement Programs, Harvard University Center for AIDS Research/Harvard Global Health Institute. Ms. Allen has more than 20 years of experience in enhancing and advancing women’s health in the HIV/AIDS field. In collaborative efforts with other HIV/AIDS providers including governmental agencies, Ms. Allen has produced innovative and effective educational health models that have contributed to numerous successful community-based programs still in use today. Ms. Allen is a member of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, American Public Health Association, Black Ministerial Alliance’s HIV & Health Subcommittee, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Boston Branch Health Subcommittee.
Gary Bailey DHL, MSW, ACSW, is an award-winning professor who has played top leadership roles in the social work field. He is a former president of the Board of Directors of the AIDS Action Committee (AAC) of Massachusetts, and currently serves on the AAC Advisory Council. He was selected as one of 25 people who have made a difference in Massachusetts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and whose contributions to the fight against AIDS over the last two-and-a-half decades have been invaluable. He is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) Advisory Council.
Orlando Del Valle, LICSW,has been a board member of The History Project since 2001. He previously served as a clinical social worker at the Cambridge Health Alliance, where he provided case management and clinical services to patients and families affected by HIV/AIDS. He served as a board member of the group Positive Directions, and was actively involved with several organizations focused on addressing the health needs of the Latino/a community, including concerns related to HIV/AIDS. Those organizations included La Alianza Hispana, the Latino Health Network (which later became the Latino Health Institute), and Club Antorcha.
Stewart Landers, JD, MCP, has been a senior consultant at John Snow, Inc. (JSI) since 1994. His current title is Director, US Health Services, Boston Office. Mr. Landers consults on issues related to HIV/AIDS, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health, health care reform, health promotion, and mental health/substance use disorder prevention and treatment. Throughout his career, Mr. Landers has been an activist for LGBT rights and health, and was co-convener of the 2004 National LGBTI Health Summit. In addition to his consulting duties, Mr. Landers serves as an associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) for LGBT health, HIV/AIDS, community-based participatory research, and evaluation studies.
Rob Phelps developed full-blown AIDS soon after graduating from Boston University in 1987. At the time, however, he was fortunate to be working at Harvard, where he immersed himself in early HIV drug trials. After a 10-year fight, during which he became a spokesperson for Community Research Initiative of Boston, he regained his immune system, went on to earn an MFA in creative writing at Bennington College, and became the arts editor at the Provincetown Banner, the managing editor at Boston Spirit magazine, and a freelance writer and editor of nonfiction books. His nearly 25-year relationship with Jim Dalglish, his spouse of nine years, has provided him with a unique insight into the theater along with Phelps’s personal experiences with HIV/AIDS.
The History Project is the only group focused exclusively on documenting, preserving, and sharing the history of the Boston area’s LGBTQ community. It maintains one of the largest independent LGBTQ archives in the nation, encompassing more than 400,000 records, and conducts educational and outreach activities that focus on bringing that history to life for diverse audiences.
