**LIVE THEATER EVENT!** Two short plays, written more than four decades apart, look at HIV/AIDS from different moments in the epidemic—one from the terrifying uncertainty of its earliest days, the other from the perspective of a generation living with the history and continuing impact of HIV. **ONE by Jeff Hagedorn** Directed by **Rory Brady** A young man, newly diagnosed with AIDS, speaks directly to the audience as he struggles to understand what is happening—to his body, his future, and the people he may have touched. Written and first produced in Chicago in 1983, **ONE** is recognized as the first publicly produced theatrical work about AIDS. This intimate 30-minute monologue gave a human voice to the emerging crisis at a time when fear, misinformation, and silence dominated the public conversation. **BLOOD SPILL by Lee Raines** Directed by **Byron Stewart** Set in 1992, **BLOOD SPILL** centers on an HIV-positive playwright confronting a theater director over what AIDS theater should be: work that comforts audiences, or work that provokes them. The play explores grief, anger, caregiving, survival, and the battle over whose stories get told. ◆ **ABOUT JEFF HAGEDORN:** Milwaukee-born playwright Jeff Hagedorn became an important voice in Chicago theater and one of the earliest dramatists to confront the AIDS epidemic. He wrote 11 plays, many dealing with AIDS and its effects on individuals and the community. Hagedorn died from an AIDS-related illness in 1995. ◆ **ABOUT LEE RAINES:** Lee Raines is a playwright, theater artist, former ACT UP member, and longtime HIV survivor who has been living with HIV since 1989. His work is deeply informed by his experience of the AIDS crisis and its aftermath. **BLOOD SPILL** was developed through **Write It Out!**, the program founded by Donja R. Love for playwrights living with HIV, where Raines was a member of the inaugural cohort and now serves as Director of Artistic Programming and Outreach. ◆ **PERFORMANCES:** Friday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, October 25 at 3 p.m. ◆ Part of **BEFORE WE ARE HISTORY**, Open Space Arts’ three-week examination of theatrical works created in response to the AIDS crisis and the continuing impact of HIV on individuals and the community. **Open Space Arts** 1411 W. Wilson Avenue, Chicago