Supposedly, lightning never strikestwice in the same spot. But after 21 years apart, Calgary actors Barry Thorsonand Steve Gin are challenging that notion.

In 1994, Thorson and Ginself-produced Harry Rintoul’s searing AIDS drama Brave Hearts, set atypically in the backyard of aparty in Saskatoon. Equally uncharacteristic for the time were the play’sblue-collar characters: a bitter, closeted seismologist and an openly gay ranchhand.

"At the time, AIDS was still awhite-collar crime," reflects Gin, who played the wisecracking, GlenCampbell-loving ranch hand, GW. "Most of the AIDS dramas at that time wereabout well-to-do white gay men who lived in New York, San Francisco or FireIsland. AIDS – let along gay men – were still an invisible presence on theprairies."

"These (characters) are people thatan Alberta or a prairie audience identify with readily and understand," adds Thorson."They’re so down-to-earth, which I think is very appealing."

On the evening of December 4^th,as part of events honouring World AIDS Day, Brave Hearts receives a staged reading at Calgary’s Loft 112 inCalgary’s East Village, with Thorson and Gin back in the saddle as GW and Rafe.A panel discussion follows, with representatives from the Calgary Gay HistoryProject, HIV Community Link and Chromatic Theatre participating.

BraveHearts first opened at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in 1991, ata time when a diagnosis of AIDS was still considered a death sentence for many.Three years later the prognosis wasn’t much better when the play premiered inCalgary at The Pumphouse Theatres. The actors rehearsed at the AIDS Calgaryoffices, and resource personnel from the organization facilitated talkbacksafter each performance. Critical response to the production was positive, withthe Calgary Herald proclaiming it ‘an act of courage’.

"AIDS claimed a lot of the people wegot to know through that show," remembers Gin. "But others we came to know,especially the ones who were just recently diagnosed, are still here. They’refine. And that’s so encouraging."

So why revisit the show two decadeslater?

First and foremost, it’s a greatscript, garnering a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination in its Torontoproduction. For both actors in the Calgary production, there is a feeling thatpeople need to be reminded of the impact of AIDS in the community, especiallythe younger generation of gay youth who never witnessed its devastationfirst-hand.

Gin went on to helm Calgary’s firstqueer theatre company, Teatro Berdache, which ran professional productions inCalgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal from 2000 to 2008. This year, itre-emerged as an interdisciplinary arts facilitator, running the successfulWarhol-inspired Factory 112 series at Loft 112. A new queer theatre company,Third Street Theatre, has since emerged to assume the role of mountingmainstream productions.

"We’re definitely older and greyerthan we were in 1994," laughs Gin, "and there’s no damn way we could ever pullthis off onstage, ’cause the characters are 26 and 31. "

"But so much of this play is aboutloneliness, and the need to reconnect. And I think that’s gonna resonate evenmore now, especially when the audience has a chance to talk about it with usafterward in the intimate space of the reading."