The cover of Tony Kushner's book "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes."

NASHUA – A panel of special guests will join Mayor Jim Donchess for this month’s Mayor’s Virtual Book Discussion, the topic of which will be playwright Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.”

Selected to coincide with June’s observance of Pride Month, the book is based on Kushner’s two-part play, described by one critic as “a complex, often metaphorical, and at times symbolic, examination of AIDS and homosexuality in America in the 1980s.”

The discussion will take place via Zoom beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 17.

To register for the event, go to www.nashuanh.gov/1421/Mayors-Virtual-Book-Club. Zoom login information will be sent to registered participants before the event.

There will be a very limited number of copies of the book available at the Nashua Public Library, but it also can be found on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com, and is available in-person at Barnes & Noble stores and most other book sellers.

Tony Kushner, playwright and author

Joining Donchess for the discussion will be panelists Dr. Nicole Loring, assistant professor of political science at Rivier University; former Nashua alderman Tim Nickerson; and Nashua Community College professor Elizabeth Fontanella.

As is the case with the monthly book discussion series, members of the public are invited to read the book ahead of time and join in the discussion via Zoom.

Donchess will open the discussion by introducing the panelists, each of whom will offer their thoughts on the book. The discussion will then be opened up to members of the public.

“Angels in America” tells the story of two couples – one gay and one straight – named Louis Ironson and Prior Walter, and Joe and Harper Pitt.

Walter contracts AIDS, and Louis tries to care for him, but he is overcome with strain and fear.

Joe Pitt, meanwhile, is offered a job working for the Justice Department by Roy Cohn, who was chief counsel to controversial U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the famous Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954.

But Harper Pitt, who is addicted to Valium and suffers from anxiety, doesnít want to move to Washington, D.C.

The couplesí troubled lives come together when Joe stumbles upon Ironson crying in the bathroom of the courthouse where he works, and they strike up an unlikely friendship based in part on Louis’s suspicion that Joe is gay.

Harper and Prior also meet, in a fantastical mutual dream sequence, in which Prior reveals to Harper that her husband is a closeted homosexual.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.