Baptism by Green Fire

What is real or unreal? If one looks close, things may not be what they appear to be. In his second collection of plays set in the 1980s, Michael JP Williams takes a look back at a time when Ronald Reagan's Hollywood glamour sparked the American spirit and prosperity graced many homes-even as the AIDS crisis quietly intensified in the shadows.

In Skin Savers, Key West, Florida, a mecca for artists, writers, transplanted New Yorkers, seves as the setting and as a perfect place for Hank and Beau, two businessmen who have been trying for years to make their fortunes at their fabric firm. Discouraged by a recent chain of events, they are thrilled when they receive the resume of a young talented artist. But as they recruit him to work at their company, they have no idea that Mickey D'West is battling his own issues. In the second play Old Tavern Tales, Paul and Mickey fall in love and soon become immersed in a bizarre relationship where neither has respect for the other-or themselves.

Baptism by Green Fire highlights a time when Key West was abruptly changed with the arrival of a horrifying disease that robbed the world of many beautiful, vibrant, and talented men.