This year, the CHS Thespian Society made panels for the AIDS Quilt (which is a quilt made to honor someone who has died of AIDS) for Howard Rollins and Richard Hunt. The Thespian Society has been making the panels since 2002 as part of the Names Project and has sent several quilts to Washington D.C. over the years to be added to the large collection they have collected from tens of thousands of people all over the world. “This project is our way of giving back because the theater community lost so many people during the AIDS epidemic and it’s our way of giving back and showing respect to those who have died,” said Mrs. Platko.
In October 1987, the 1st quilt as part of the Names Project was brought to D.C. during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and was about the size of a football field, which included 1,920 panel. The Quilt received quite a response after this and it was transported on a four-month, 20-city tour that spring. On the tour that year about $500,000 was raised for many AIDS Service organizations. By the time the tour ended, the number of panels of the Quilt tripled. The Quilt returned once again the next year and at that time displayed 8,288 panels.
In 1989, a second tour was brought to 19 additional cities in the U.S. and Canada. This tour raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for AIDS service organizations. In 1992 the Quilt included panels from each state and 28 other countries. By 1996 the Quilt was able to cover the entire National Mall in Washington D.C.
The Quilt was nominated for a Noble Peace Prize in 1989 and continues to be the largest community art project. In 1989, “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt” won the Academy Award for the best feature-length documentary film. The Quilt has not been displayed in its entirety since 1996 but now includes over 48,000 panels. It now is 1.3 million square feet and to view each panel spending only one minute at each it would take 33 days to go through the entire Quilt. Today it has received more than 18,000,000 visitors.
Students volunteered to come into school early and to stay after school to hand sew the panels. Howard Rollins panel celebrated his love for acting and Richard Hunt’s panel portrayed his life as a pupetteer having created Fraggle Rock and Muppets characters.
On World Aids Days, the Thespian society had a small ceremony in the auditorium with the KIVA High School, to honor those lives on the panels and to remember all those who have died from AIDS.
The Thespian Society has honored many victims of AIDS during the years but in the future would like to honor someone from Woodbridge Township in order to make the Quilt more personal. If you know of anyone who was a victim of AIDS, please contact Mrs. Platko at [email protected].
