NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sometimes a play is hard to watch because its truth sears you. Its story reminds you not only of the pain its characters feel but of the pain you've felt.

Rhubarb Theatre Company's brilliant revival of Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART is such a play.

Director Julie Alexander knows how to get the best out of her casts, and she's gotten the most out of the ensemble that brings Kramer's 20-year-old dramatic primal scream to life. If you want to see a relevant tale performed with emotional clarity, this show is for you.

The play is set in 1980s New York and focuses on the beginning of the AIDS pandemic. Ned Weeks (Scott Douglas) is angry at the disease that's killing many of the people he cares about, including his lover Felix Turner (Chandler Martin). He's mad at a government that's indifferent, a society that's uncaring and a gay community that he feels isn't responding to AIDS as it should. His anger turns him into an activist on the matter. Will his zeal cost him more than it gains the cause for which he's fighting?

As Weeks, Douglas conveys Weeks' righteous rage while also managing to show his tenderness and his frailty. Martin shows Turner's strengths and weaknesses with a deft touch that provides a personality counterpoint to Weeks' sound and fury.

The rest of the cast also hits the mark. Of special note are Clay Hillwig as Weeks' conflicted brother Ben; Michael Roark, J. Noble and Erik Garcia as three of Weeks' fellow activists; and Pat Rulon as Dr. Emma Brookner, who sharply conveys her often lonely battle against the medical nightmare that's killing so many of her patients.

There are cameo appearances by such Nashville luminaries as attorney Abby Rubenfeld, former Metro Councilman Chris Ferrell and WSMV news anchor Demetria Kalodimos during the play's run that add a local flavor to this internationally produced show.

The set constructed by Jim Manning has an appropriate starkness that's augmented by facts and figures written on backdrops and the walls of Darkhorse Theatre. Shane Caudill's light design and Jeff Levy's sound, particularly the opening audio mix that provides historical perspective for the piece, are also right for this show.

THE NORMAL HEART avoids being a poignant period piece because AIDS and its terrible impact are still very much with us. That's why it continues to be produced around the world after twenty years. What makes it great theater here, though, is that Julie Alexander and her Rhubarb Theatre Company collaborators have found the emotional truth of the story and its characters and presented it unflinchingly for audiences to see.

Theater that edifies and entertains is theater that expresses the human condition powerfully and profoundly. That type of theatrical experience is what Rhubarb Theatre Company strives for and has succeeded in achieving with this and past productions.

To See The Show...