Paula Vogel, author of the Pulitzer-winning play "How I Learned to Drive", wrote "The Baltimore Waltz" following the death of her brother, Carl, from complications due to AIDS in 1988.  Upon its premiere Off-Broadway in 1992, it won an Obie for Best New American Play.

The play has now been remounted for a short run at The Underground Theater, in an intimate production directed by Peter Zinn.  It stars Heather Cunningham as Anna, a schoolteacher who has been diagnosed with the fictitious ATD (Acquired Toilet Disease), in what is, essentially, an allegory for HIV/AIDS. Facing (or, not willing to face) her slim chances of survival, Anna and her brother Carl (Ricardo Rust) embark on a search for a cure that takes them through Europe, where Anna eats well, has a lot of casual sex with a lot of European men (all played by the protean Greg Oliver Bodine), and wonders where her brother sneaks off to when she's not looking.

Unlike other plays to come out of the American AIDS crisis of the '80s and '90s, such as Tony Kushner's "Angels in America", Vogel's play is less interested in larger questions about American politics and culture.  "The Baltimore Waltz" may express frustration with the glacial response of the American health system and the stigma surrounding "ATD", but as a play it lives as a story about a woman and her brother as they try to navigate the spaces that have grown between them -- out of disease, and their silences, and other more mundane parts of life.

Of course, the chemistry between the two lead actors is therefore vital: Cunningham and Rust are at times convincing and occasionally quite compelling as the two siblings; other times, this aspect of their relationship seems unintentionally absent.  It is also true that the play on the whole has not aged particularly well -- the work's humor feels dated, and satire that was once, surely, a release for those still mourning loved ones and frustrated with the health system's failures, now seems somewhat too blunt.  Perhaps it was more biting during its time.  Now, it is the amusing European accents put on by Bodine that (not undeservedly) get the most laughs.

Still, there is much more that this play does well; and it is surely important that the smaller, grief-derived stories about this part of our country's history continue to be told.

Performances of "The Baltimore Waltz" continue through November 23rd.  Check out our full event listing for more information: https://stagebuddy.com/listingdetail.php?lid=15245