BROOKFIELD — The Brookfield Theatre of the Arts production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, under the direction of David Bass, is pretty much flawless.

Full disclosure here, I love this play.  It pulls back the curtain on a dark time in American history, when many were willing to turn a blind eye to a plague striking an entire population deemed to be different. Because of their preferences, they were marginalized in their time of suffering and need. Tissues should be provided with the tickets.

Ned Weeks, a verbose, gay man with a chip on his shoulder, is played by Michael Wright. He becomes aware of the “gay plague” through conversations with Dr Emma Brookner (Vicki Sosbe), a paraplegic polio victim with a steely nature and sheer grit. She encourages, or pushes, Ned to use his notoriously big mouth to garner the attention of officials who can support research and, more importantly, to get gay men to stop having sex. She is convinced that this is the mode of transmission.

Ned encounters one dead end after another, including his well to do straight lawyer brother Ben (Christopher Bird), who fails to even acknowledge that Ned is his equal. Finding love with the suave, and successful, Felix Turner, played by Miles Everett, Ned becomes increasingly agitated about raising awareness, prevention and research funding.

He forms an organization of gay men, many of whom are still closeted, to meet the challenges of not only caring for the afflicted but trying to promote safe sex in a community that identifies itself by its sexuality.

The obstacles are numerous. There is dissension in the ranks of the organization and Ned is left floundering. Bruce Niles, a natty banker played by J. Scott Williams, smooth operator Mickey Marcus (Michael Reilly), southern pretty boy Tommy Boatwright (Todd Santa Maria), and various characters on both sides of the conflict (played by Kyle Pinto) complete this astounding cast of characters. Each of these performers radiates anxiety and anguish as they watch friends and lovers die an agonizing death.

Michael Wright is in every single scene of this play. He masters a range of emotional output that is exhausting, yet maintains an energy and focus that carries the play. Michael Reilly and J. Scott Williams in turn deliver scorching, wrenching monologues of the pain, fear and indignity that these men have sustained. They are threatened at every turn and yet soldier on.

Miles Everett smoothes Ned’s sharp edges, with his gentle, steady interpretation of Felix. Todd Santa Maria, Kyle Pinto and Christopher Bird all deliver.

Vicki Sosbe portrays her Emma Brookner as a didactic doctor with a heart of stone until her level of frustration reaches the boiling point and she stuns with a display of rage.

Each of the actors thanks the “amazing cast” in their program bio. They do not oversell. The entire cast, directed by Mr Bass, is amazing.

The AIDS crisis rendered a new definition of what it means to be gay. This play redefines love. Don’t miss it. Bring tissues.

Performances continue Friday and Saturday evenings through November 22.

The Normal Heart is not intended for young audiences.

Call 203-775-0023 or visit BrookfieldTheatre.org for tickets and other details.