Reminiscent of the way in which Arthur Miller used past politics to give insight into modern issues in The Crucible, Pulitzer-and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (known for Angels in America) draws a similar parallel between political situations in his 1985 play, A Bright Room Called Day, which is to open in Oberlin next weekend.

“He wrote it at a time when he felt abandoned by his friends and his government. He was outraged during this time of the AIDS epidemic when President Reagan seemed to show no concern. He wrote the play in response to his outrage,” said Matthew Wright, director of the play and theater professor at Oberlin.

The play follows a group of artists and activists, essentially bohemians on the “fringe of society,” who are very close friends and are living in Weimar Germany during the fascist takeover. The play observes their relationship over a two-year period. It focuses on Agnes, a woman who chooses to stay in Berlin as her friends leave for safer locations outside Germany. It also features a contemporary American woman who comments on current culture, comparing and contrasting the past German and current American political situations.

Kushner encourages updates of the play to coincide with current political situations.

“The contemporary woman’s character basically compares Reagan to Hitler. We’ve updated it a bit so that now it compares Bush to Hitler,” said Wright. “We basically only changed two or three references in the whole play and it’s still relevant.”

Wright believes in the play’s message and the importance of its words in the current political climate.

“After the last election I felt outrage, I felt abandoned by my country. I felt some of Kushner’s sentiments,” he said. “I remembered this play and the impact that it had on me when I first saw it. I thought, ‘It says exactly what I’m feeling right now. It articulates beautifully some of the frustration that I’m feeling right now.’ So I read the play again and thought that it was actually more appropriate for what’s going on now than what was going on during the ’80s.”

When the play first opened, many were outraged and offended by its extremist reaction to the politics of the time.

“It is a very leftist play. At Oberlin, we’re going to be preaching to the choir. The play won’t be nearly as controversial as it may have been if it were being done in Des Moines, Iowa for example,” he said. “The play calls into the question the argument: should art elevate itself above politics, or should art engage in politics?”

Even the title of the play, which at first may appear unclear to viewers, involves political sentiment. The title was chosen because Kushner, during an interaction with the famous choreographer Agnes de Mille, heard her say what he thought was “a bright room called day,” when in fact she had said “a bridegroom called death.” He still felt that the mistaken metaphor connected with his play’s themes and that the phrase for which it was mistaken had irony to it as well. The line is also said at the very end of the play.

“The phrase was indicative of the times because the beautiful poetic image was actually about a bridegroom killing people. It summed up exactly for him what he was feeling about his experiences,” said Wright.

A Bright Room Called Day will be performed in Hall Auditorium on Dec. 9 at 8 p.m., Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased through CTS: $4 students, $6 OC ID, $6 senior citizens, $6 educators and $8 public; all tickets $3 more at door.