Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2 by Tony Kushner is a 30-year-old epic that resonates like a church bell struck seconds ago. Set in the mid-1980s, on earth and in heaven, many of its characters are gay, some have AIDS, they’re Mormon, Jewish, Black and Mayflower descendants. They include historic figures like Cold War-era prosecutor Roy Cohn and convicted spy Ethel Rosenberg.

Portland Stage hosts Dramatic Repertory Company’s production. Founder Keith Powell Beyland is co-directing with Peter Brown, artistic director at Fenix Theatre Company, another local group. If you missed Part 1, no worries: you’ll be pulled right in by powerful, complex characters, theatrical magic, fantastical settings and off-the-wall humor.

Nate Stephenson, who plays Louis, and Michela Micalizio, who plays Harper, are both Portland residents who grew up in Maine. They joined a conversation a week before opening. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

MOLLY ADAMS: I love seeing professionals come to town, but it’s special to see local celebrities onstage. When the cast was announced, I thought, “how do I know this guy…? Oh, he works at my neighborhood café!” I fanned out.

NATE STEPHENSON: That’s funny, thank you. It’s awesome to have local folks up on stage. Everybody has day jobs. Back in May, if we had a student matinee, someone would come from their shift at the bank, do the show and go back.

MICHELA MICALIZIO: I came back to Portland from New York, because it was too big for me. I like the intimacy of knowing the people that you’re working with. And anywhere you go, people want to see theater. There are three international theater hubs in New England, and in Portland I can work with the same directors I did when I was eight years old. It doesn’t happen anywhere else.

How have you been holding space for this show in your life? How do you jump back in?

STEPHENSON: The other night in rehearsal, I put on a jacket that I wore in the first part, and the hat was still in the pocket from the end of our last performance. I feel I’ve done the character work already—that’s Louis’s jacket and that’s Louis’s hat—but this part opens maybe seconds from the cliffhanger of Part 1, and we have to start at a 10. I’m finding the rhythm.

MICALIZIO: At the end of Part 1, Harper is like, feral in Prospect Park, outside for three days, in a full-blown manic fantasia. But, coming into Part 2, it’s not going great. I’m in dirty, wet clothing. Pretty much everyone is having the worst day in their life in this show. The Angel is preaching, “Stop moving!” but if Harper stops, she will die. You have to keep moving, that’s what humans do. It’s sad. It’s hilarious.

STEPHENSON: There’s a playwright’s note from Kushner in the script where he explicitly says, this is a comedy. When you work on it so long, you forget the mind-boggling, bats**t stuff that happens. It’s a profound story about humans and our country on the brink of crisis, but then like, a diorama comes to life in a Mormon Visitor Center.

Tell us more about being working actors in Maine.

MICALIZIO: There’s so much happening. Last night in the theater, we had two rehearsals running and an improv class that had just left. Theater has found its footing again, where it was pre-pandemic. And to be a part of this freaking beast of a show… I would never be able to do this anywhere else and the fact that it’s happening in my hometown with people that I love. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

STEPHENSON: There is bigger, commercial work in New York or Los Angeles, but it’s so competitive for the work that you’re getting. If you want to practice the craft, you can consistently work in New England. And seeing people in your community throw themselves at these kinds of big projects, to have this important work coming from people that you can get a sandwich from the next day, that is really valuable.

See Angels in America, Part 2 live on stage starting this Wednesday, Oct. 23 through Sunday, Nov. 10. For tickets, visit portlandstage.org or call 207-774-0465.