A Poster of the Cosmos - Contemporary Arts Center

Little is known about this production of Lanford Wilson's one-person/one-act play other than that it was staged at the Contemporary Arts Center located in New Orleans in 1991. 

Photo: Personal Collection

A description of the play from the Dramatist Play Service, 

The place is a Manhattan police station, where a young man, Tom, is being interrogated after having created a disturbance at the hospital where his friend and lover has just died from AIDS. Although only Tom speaks, it is clear that the flood of memories that bursts forth is triggered by the uncomprehending questions of the policemen who now watch him in stony silence. At first he is defensive and impatient with his questioners’ inability to understand his behavior, but gradually, as he recalls his time with his lost friend, the depth of their feeling and commitment for each other emerges. Recalling a host of “little” details, Tom creates a telling portrait of two human beings who must come to understand themselves as individuals before they can comprehend their relationship to each other—much less their position relative to society at large. Sometimes poignant, sometimes harrowing, Tom’s deeply felt words also make it clear that the guilt and remorse he feels should, in truth, be shared by all who do not try to understand—or pledge themselves to overcome—this terrible pestilence has brought so much loss and suffering to our times.

From the Google Books preview, 

"A poster of the Cosmos: A powerful one person/one act play set in a police station in Manhattan. Addressing a cop "who would be at the other end of the table," Tom, a 36-year-old baker suffering from "survivor guilt," has been accused of killing his lover Johnny who had been dying from AIDS. Throughout the interrogation Tom offers insight into his and Johnny's lives prior to and during their relationship. His story also is permeated with attacks on an uncaring and ignorant society, especially when he mocks the interrogator's derogatory refrain, "You don't look like the kinna guy'd do somethin' like dat."