Every Act of Life

Playwright Terrence McNally is best known for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Ragtime: all Tony award winners that premiered in the 1990s. Long before his widespread success, McNally made the bold choice that many of his colleagues and lovers (including playwright Edward Albee and actor Robert Drivas) could not—he came out. This revealing documentary follows his groundbreaking career and his fight for visibility within theatre from the 1960s to the present day.

Every Act of Life is a theatre-lover’s delight, with interviews from Broadway and screen actors Angela Lansbury, Larry Kramer, Nathan Lane, Chita Rivera, John Slattery, Rita Moreno—among others—as well as the voices of Bryan Cranston (as John Steinbeck) and Meryl Streep (as Terrence’s high school English teacher).