At age 13, Skokie native Daniel Noonan says he was diagnosed HIV positive, infected by a blood transfusion he’d received to combat hemophilia.
“In the 1980s, it seemed like everyone who was getting HIV was getting sick and dying. I figured that was what was going to happen to me,” said Noonan, who is now 50 years old. “It gave me a sense of urgency. I had strong feelings inside of me about the situation, and I decided to channel them into art.”
Decades after the diagnosis, Noonan is still channeling his energy into art. His production “Blue Over You: A Mysterious One-Man Love Story with Musical Bits” runs through Sunday at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Evanston.
“Blue Over You” is a singular hybrid of comedy, mystery, tragedy and autobiography.
“Being able to turn 50 and being able to write this play – both are godsends,” Noon says. “I’ve been HIV positive for [years]. I feel incredible.”
Directed by Sarah Whitney, the play marks the debut of Spot On Productions, which Whitney and Noonan founded after “Blue Over You” received accolades at a reading in Dayton, Ohio and was named a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference.
In Chicago, “Blue Over You” was a finalist in Three Cat Productions’ New Works Festival.
Noonan says he can’t talk much about the play’s plot without giving too much away, but he dishes that the storyline involves a high school drama teacher who comes home to find his wife missing. Like many of Noonan’s plays, “Blue Over You” is filled with characters coping with illness.
“Having a chronic health condition, it raises the stakes, both in drama and in real life,” Noonan says. “It makes you aware of your own mortality, and how important it is to – as much as you can – do what matters to you.”
Along with inspiration, Noonan’s health issues have entailed plenty of sacrifice. As a hemophiliac, his blood doesn’t always clot properly, and his entire life, he’s been barred from participating in any kind of contact sports. Hemophilia meant Noonan developed arthritis at an early age, and has spent portions of his life in a wheelchair. His elbows are sometimes in such pain that he types with a voice-activated keyboard. He also notes that the medication to treat his condition costs an estimated $100,000 a year.
“Never being allowed to play contact sports as a kid was a big deal for me,” he says. “But even with all the precautions we took, there were problems. Every three or four days, I’d have a bleed. I had to learn to give myself transfusions. I’d show up to school in slings and casts and [on] crutches.
As an adult, finding a day job came with its own set of formidable challenges, Noonan says, because his health insurance needs presented unique challenges.
“I couldn’t go work for a mom and pop company. It had to be somewhere big enough to be able to cover me,” he says.
He says he found just that with the Cook County Department of Public Health, working on AIDS and HIV prevention education, and helping people with the virus access county services. Throughout his career in public health, Noonas says he wrote plays during his off hours.
Writing plays was not Noonan’s first choice.
“I wanted to be an actor, but the physical limitations I had made that difficult. So I decided to try playwriting,” he says. “It’s important to feel your feelings. … But it’s also important to remember that while you can’t always control what happens to you, you can control how you respond.”
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Noonan studied theater at Boston University and earned a MFA in drama from Northwestern University. With his wife and children, he’s made Evanston his home for years.
“My mother always taught me to bloom where you’re planted. That’s what I’ve tried to do,” he says.